University of Houston
LSU Tiger Festival
Cross Country Women Win, Men Take Fourth
9/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 29, 2008
BATON ROUGE--The University of Houston cross-country teams competed in the LSU Tiger Festival Saturday, earning the women's third-straight first place finish, and the men's third-straight Top 5 finish.
Freshman Stephanie Aldea led the field in first and finished with a time of 21:21 in the 6K race. This is the Windsor, Ontario native's third-straight Top Three finish.
"Our women did a great job focusing this week and competed with a lot of heart. Stephanie (Aldea) went out in 5:12 over the first mile and settled in after that point for a nice victory," head coach Ryan Turner said.
Freshman Starla Garcia wasn't far behind, taking the fifth-place spot with a time of 22:28. Freshmen Megan Munoz (23:03) and Brandi Witte (23:17) and junior Erica Hannemann (23:22) finished 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
Junior Kelcee Kennan finished 17th with a time of 24:08 and freshman Ciera Johnson finished 28th with a time of 24:50.
"This was an opportunity for the women to measure themselves against Tulane and give us a sense of where we stand in the conference. Tulane has a good group and it gave us some great competition this week." Turner said.
For the men, freshman Anthony Jordan led the Cougars, finishing 17th with a time of 27:00 in the 8K race. Following just a second behind him, was 18th-place finisher junior Antony Keller. Freshman Nate Pineda finished with a time of 27:06, putting him in the 20 spot. Freshman Andres Santaolalla finished in 30th place with a time of 27:50.
"Anthony Jordan and Antony Keller ran great. Nate (Pineda) has been sick and had a difficult time breathing in the race. It's just a matter of time before he gets healthy and back to his old self." Turner said.
Next Up
The Cougars will travel to Orlando, Fla. on Oct. 11 to compete in the Disney World Cross Country Classic. The men's race is slated to begin at 7:45 a.m.
The women will try and defend their first-place title at 8:30 a.m.
Players Mentioned
