WICHITA FALLS, Texas – TAMIU men's and women's cross country competed in the Lone Star Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday, as both teams finished in seventh place in their respective races.
 
"On the men's side, we struggled to get out and that was one mistake that cost us to perform on a tough course," said head coach Benny Rodriguez. "We were led by Josphat and Malvin who ran well."
 
"The women had Beverlyne and Victorine run tough from the start, but we lost Claudette on the second loop due to sickness, forcing her to drop out of the race. Faith also had a stomach bug that caused her race to not go as planned."
 
Rodriguez continued saying, "As a team, we have to click on all cylinders to run our best and today was not our day. We had a couple of bright spots, but we now need to regroup and see if we can have a better outcome at regionals with our hopes to get someone to qualify for nationals."
 
For the women in the 6K, sophomores Beverlyne Kipchumba and Victorine Kiprop paced the Dustdevils with 18th and 19th place finishes with times of 23:25.0 and 23:26.7 respectively.
 
Junior Faith Kiprotich followed in 42nd with a time of 24:22.2, while sophomore Rose Iminza placed 58th with a time of 24:56.6.
 
Freshman Destiny Villarreal followed with a 67 th place finish at 25:11.3, while fellow freshman Itzel Soto rounded out the order with a time of 28:30.5 to place 114th.
 
In the men's 8K race, sophomore Josphat Langat led the charge for the Dustdevils, placing 20th out of 106 runners with a time of 26:04.5.
 
Sophomore Malvin Boen followed with a 24th place finish and a time of 26:11.2, while fellow sophomore Evans Ngetich placed 37th with a time of 26:42.0.
 
Another sophomore, Colfin Kipsiwa broke the tape at 27:29.5 to place 56th, while yet another sophomore, Gilbert Garcia ended in 80th at 28:41.9.
 
Rounding out the TAMIU order was junior Daniel Villarreal who finished 84th with a time of 29:08.8 and freshman Ethan Chavez in 91st at 29:33.6.
 
TAMIU races again on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Denver, Colo., as both teams take part in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships.