FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas - In a loaded event, the Concordia Texas cross country team exhibited excellence progress at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival hosted by the University of Arkansas. A total of nine runners set season-best times at the meet, including PRs by Cade Ehlers, Ashley Ramirez, & Rylee Whorton on Saturday.

In the men's 8k, all six Tornados reached a new season-best time as Concordia placed 15th as a team. Ehlers (29:49.3) improved his on his time by nearly a minute and a half. Senior Thomas Hughes cracked the top 20 with a time of 27:43.7, while Samuel Valdez crossed the finish line in 29:02.4

Daniel Bizima (31:53.3) and Edward Wells (32:54.7) finished almost a minute apart, while Damon Vasquez round out the men's scorers with a time of 33:01.8.

Click here to view the men's race full results.

In the women's 5k, both Ramirez (27:07.1) and Whorton (28:10.9) shattered their previous personal-best times by over three minutes.

Sophomore Ashley Rivera led the Tornados with a time of 24:38.0, while Lluvia Rodriguez clocked in at 28:29.3. Rodriguez's time would be a new season's best as she torched her previous time by over four minutes. Freshman Kaiyla Love would post a time of 43:02.0 to help the Tornados place 23rd as a team.

Click here to view the women's race full results.

Concordia Texas will next travel to Dallas for the DBU Old Glory Gallop next Saturday, October 5th. The men's race will start at 8:15am, and the women will begin at 9:15am.

To keep up to date with everything surrounding the CTX cross country program, follow us on social media (@ctxathletics) and visit athletics.concordia.edu.