GEORGETOWN, TEXAS - The Southwestern University Men's Cross Country team competed in the Mountaineer Invite hosted by Schreiner University down in Kerrville, Texas. The Pirates had three men finish in the top 10 of the 8K race, which helped Southwestern end the meet with a team score of 53! Southwestern Men concluded the meet tied for first place but fell in the tie breaker bringing home a second place finish.
Head Coach Joe Sponsel shared his thoughts post meet saying, "I was pretty confident in the team's ability to be successful at this meet after seeing them in training the last few weeks, on a flat course, and people coming back from injury and sickness. So I put a little extra pressure on them in the team meeting the night before and told them so. That I thought they could be the top D3 team and win the meet. I wanted to challenge them to perform with that idea in their heads. If we could do that, then we'd be much better prepared for some extra pressure, expectations, and energy when we host the conference championships and at the regional meet. And they responded really well. I think just about everybody ran a faster 5k split in this race than our first meet which was just a 5k. The guys paced themselves much better than the opener and took a big step in the right direction in getting more out of the fitness we're building. We're right back to work this week, but I like the direction we're going in."
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
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Max Rodriguez - A freshman in his first 8k handled the new distance really well. I expect some more great things from Max the rest of this season.Â
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Jackson Herlin - first time sub-30 in the 8k on an absolutely massive 70 second PR
SOUTHWESTERN RESULTS
Xavier Wines - 27:13.5
Cade Rosenquist - 27:25.8
Emilio Salas - 27:50.5
Kevin Love - 28:04.5
Leo Redding - 28:47.3
Max Rodriguez - 28:48.2
Jackson Herlin - 29:17.5
Cooper Stoughton - 29:19.2
Gary Sunderland - 32:02.6
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