MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Under the bright lights of the Mike Rose Soccer Complex, the Southern Arkansas Men's & Women's Cross Country teams each put together solid showings in their season-opening runs at the City Auto Memphis Twilight Classic hosted by Christian Brothers on Saturday night in the Volunteer State.
The SAU Women were led by true freshman
Logan Warren (47
th; 19:18.75), while
Dakota Cassidy (75
th; 20:00.16) and
Bronwyn Buchanan (93
rd; 20:24.34) were the second and third Muleriders to cross the tape and rounded out the top 100 placers for SAU in the deep 193-runner field.
Southern Arkansas then grouped their next four finishers in tight as
Carley Hale (128
th; 21:17.45),
Alyzah McGlasson (131
st; 21:23.62),
Cecilia Quesada (134
th; 21:30.51) and
Alyssa Dohm (139
th; 21:39.96) all placed within a dozen spots of each other, while also rounding out the scoring finishers for the Muleriders.
SAU earned a 14
th place result among the 22-team field at an average 5K time of 20:28.87. Eight Division I schools were on hand for the women's collegiate competition and of the eight other Division II teams represented, the Mulerider Women were faster than four.
The Mulerider Men saw All-GAC performer
Rob Kraus lead the way (64
th; 21:13.28) with
Carlos Armendariz (76
th; 21:29.88) and
Jaime Quinones (81
st; 21:37.84) rounding out the top three and top 100 finishers for SAU.
Of the stacked 211-runner field, Southern Arkansas placed seven runners from the 112
th place finish (
Jorge Sanchez, 22:12.96) to the 149
th place finish (
Eric Gordon, 22:58.11).
Logan Rickey (120
th; 22:21.24),
Hector Hernandez (126
th; 22:25.38) and
Pedro Cervantes (138
th; 22:39.74) rounded out the point-scoring finishers for the Muleriders, while
Madison Langley (139
th; 22:39.87) and
Andrew Cornett (148
th; 22:56.00) both recorded finishes in the top 150.
None of SAU's 14 male runners placed outside the top 200.
The Muleriders recorded a 12th place finish among a talented 20-team field that included seven Division I programs and seven Division II programs; two of which the Muleriders' topped. Southern Arkansas' average time in the 4-mile event clocked in at 21:47.04.
