The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Bear Twilight Invitational
Cross Country sweeps Bear Twilight Invitational
08.30.2019 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The Longhorns swept the team and individual medals in Waco.
WACO, Texas – The University of Texas Men's and Women's Cross Country teams opened their seasons on Friday evening with dominating performances in the Bear Twilight Invitational, winning their respective team and individual medals. The women claimed 10 of the first 12 finishes in the 4,000-meter race and the UT men captured the first seven individual places in the 6,000-meter competition.
UT won the women's race with 21 points, besting second-place Baylor, which had 58. The Longhorn men scored 15 points while Baylor was second with 50.
Longhorns Destiny Collins and Kathryn Gillespie finished first and second in the women's race with times of 13:17.5 and 13:24.9, respectively. Isabel Hebner, Beth Ramos, Claudine Blancaflor, Olivia Thompson, Madeline Vondra and Marissa Flournoy each turned in times of less than 14 minutes for UT.
"Destiny and Kat each had a great race," women's distance coach PattiSue Plumer said. "It was good to see them work together as planned -- to run together for three kilometers before competing for the finish. Our next group worked together for two kilometers before running their own races. Our freshmen did well overall and a couple surprised me."
In the men's race, Sam Worley (18:00.1), Haftu Knight (18:02.4), John Rice (18:04.9), Garek Bielaczyc (18:13.8), Jake Johnson (18:20.0), Daniel Viegra (18:21.5) and Cruz Gomez (18:21.7) crossed the finish line in the first seven places.
"I honestly wanted to just see our guys come out here and give a good, solid effort in some warm and humid conditions," men's distance coach Pete Watson said. "I wanted the guys to run in front of the pack and then just kind of race against each other a little bit in the last 1,000, and then we had a really nice finish for some of the guys."
The Longhorns return to cross country competition on Sept. 13 when they host the Texas Invitational in Round Rock.
Players Mentioned
