TYLER, Texas - In what the team considered to be one of the toughest courses they have ever ran, the Concordia Texas cross country team made huge strides at the UT Tyler Cross Country Open. Three Tornados (
Thomas Hughes,
Samuel Valdez, &
Maryn Trianni) recorded personal best times, while five others set new collegiate marks at Texas Rose Horse Park on Saturday.
Leading the way for the men's team in the 4-mile race was Hughes (21:54.60) who placed 20th overall and first among all DIII competitors. His PR beat his previous mark by one minute and 25 seconds. Valdez was the other Tornado to set a new plateau at 23:43.40.
Matthew Kangas was the second CTX representative to cross the finish at 23:03.20.
Cade Ehlers (25:29.90),
Edward Wells (25:59.40), and
Damon Vasquez (26:03.30) joined Kangas in setting a new collegiate mark as all three finished consecutively.
Daniel Bizima rounded out the men's finishers with a time of 26:40.50.
In the women's 5K race,
Ashley Rivera led the way with a season-best time of 23:13.46. Trianni excelled and topped her PR from last week by 28 seconds at 28:23.63.
Ashley Ramirez clocked in at 31:38.46, while
Rylee Whorton (32:35.47) and
Lluvia Rodriguez (32:42.48) finished back-to-back at the meet.
Kaiyla Love posted a time of 42:23.25 to help the Tornados earn points.
Click
here to view the results of the meet.
Concordia Texas will next head back ot Georgetown, Texas to compete in the Southwestern Showdown next Saturday, September 14th.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the CTX cross country program, follow us on social media (@ctxathletics) and visit athletics.concordia.edu.