The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Cross Country finishes 2019 season at NCAA Championships
11.23.2019 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The Texas men finished 25th, while the women placed 30th, at the season's final meet.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Texas junior Sam Worley earned All-America honors while leading the Texas Men's Cross Country team to its best national finish since 2013, as the Longhorns took 25th place in the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning at the LaVern Championship Cross Country Course. The Texas Women's team, led by senior Destiny Collins, came in 30th -- its best finish since 2012.
Worley finished 27th among 252 contestants with a time of 31:12.4 over the 10K course. The first 40 finishers earned a spot on the All-American team. Previously this season, Worley won All-Big 12 and All-NCAA South Central Regional honors and was twice named Big 12 Runner of the Week. Worley is the first Texas Cross Country All-American since Ryan Dohner and Craig Lutz each won that distinction in 2013.
Worley improved his position at each split marker on Saturday. He was in 59th place after 3,000 meters, 39th after 5,000 meters, 31st after 8,000 meters before crossing the finish line in 27th.
The Texas men finished 25th with a team score of 588 (22-72-149-156-189). Senior John Rice finished 83rd with a time of 31:50.0. Freshman Haftu Knight was 180th with a time of 32:44.4.
"Sam executed his race plan almost perfectly and walked away with his very first All-American award in cross country," Texas men's distance coach Pete Watson said. "He finished about a hundred places better than last year.
"The guys as a whole did not get out very well and got buried in the back. It was tough for them to move up much higher when we were too conservative off the line. Placing 25th with three true freshmen in our top five is promising for the future."
Collins finished 129th in the women's race with a 6K time of 21:27.9. Kathryn Gillespie finished 149th with a time of 21:36.0.
The Longhorn women achieved their 30th-place finish with a team score of 713 (98-116-162-164-173).
"We could say truthfully that this is our best finish in eight years, but we definitely had higher aspirations and it is a disappointing end to an otherwise outstanding season," Texas women's distance coach PattiSue Plumer said. "However, I can't fault their effort and the wet, muddy conditions are just something we don't face very often in central Texas. I think that next year we're going to practice running through muddy long jump pits.
"I'd like to give a special nod to Beth Ramos (201st, 22:05.6), who took a nasty fall just before the start of the race, badly spraining her ankle. But she wouldn't even consider not racing. That's Texas Fight. After the race, we were great cheerleaders for the guys, and now we're going to focus on the track season."
Each race featured a slate of 31 qualifying teams and a total of 252 runners, 38 of whom received berths as representatives of teams that did not qualify for the team competition.
BYU won the men's completion with a score of 109 (3-14-17-36-39), besting second-place Northern Colorado, which had won the last three men's championships. Edwin Kuragt of Iowa State was the men's individual medalist with a time of 30:32.7.
Arkansas won the women's competition with a score of 96 (3-4-16-21-52). Weini Kelati of New Mexico won the individual medal with a time of 19:47.5.
Players Mentioned
