Women’s Cross Country wins Rice Invitational

Friday, September 7

Houston, Texas

6:15 p.m. CT

University of Texas

Rice Invitational

09.07.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Both Longhorn cross country programs were in action on Friday night.

Results (via TFRRS)

HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Texas Women's Cross Country program was victorious on Friday night at the 2018 Norry Hersey Rice Invitational in Houston. UT scored 27 points to beat out host Rice, Houston and several other programs. The Longhorn men finished fourth while only entering six runners in the early-season race.

Junior Destiny Collins and senior Alex Cruz finished first and second, respectively, in the meet. The meet was delayed due to a lightning strike right before the gun went off. Friday marked the second straight weekend in which those two finished first and second. Collins had a winning time of 13:35.0. Abby Guidry was sixth, Skyler Bollinger was eighth, Olivia Thompson 10th and Gabby Crank 11th. Anna Norman, Jordan Welborn, Marissa Flournoy, Abigail Hirst and Madeline Vondra all finished in the top 20, giving UT 11 runners in the top 20.

"I'm very happy with the results and proud of the women given the circumstances," women's cross country coach PattiSue Plumer said. "We had a long bus ride this afternoon and it was very hot and humid. Right as we were about to race we had a lightning delay, but I felt the ladies never lost their composure and executed the race plan very well."

On the men's side, the Longhorns ran just six guys but still finished fourth. UT finished with 102 points. Jake Johnson finished fifth in the meet in a time of 20:27.50 while Brandon Gracia was 16th and Brendan Hebert was 20th. Pedro Nasta, Trevor Heinz and Matthew McClellan all ran on Friday night in addition to the three, top-20 competitors.

"Jake had a nice season opener to lead the way for us," men's cross country coach Pete Watson said. "Brandon and Brendan were second and third, which was a nice effort for two freshmen. This was a learning experience for these guys as we head into the heart of the season."

Women's Results (Top 5)