Cross Country Makes Strides in Second Race of the Season

Sept. 17, 2010

HOUSTON - The University of Houston cross country team used four top-20 finishes on both the men's and women's sides to put together a strong showing at the Justin F. Cooper Memorial Rice Invitational.

Ten women ran for the Cougars on Friday night, including new addition, freshman Yasiris Gonzalez, and half of them placed in the top 30.

Sophomore Kathryn Ducommun paced the Cougars for the second-straight outing, making it around the 4,100m course with a time of 14:49 to clinch sixth place. Junior Brandi Witte followed her in 11th place with a time of 15:16.

" I think we had a lot of improvements from the first race to the second race," head coach Ryan Turner said. "That's what I like about the girls team. I thought they ran well in the first race and then this week they come out and do even better. It shows that they're always improving. Kat was very competitive from the start of the race, as well as Starla (Garcia), Megan (Munoz) and Brandi (Witte)."

Juniors Megan Munoz and Starla Garcia pushed each other throughout the race and Garcia crossed the finish line 10 seconds behind her teammate. Munoz and Garcia finished 12th and 14th, respectively. Senior co-captain Jasmine Trier ran a strong race, placing 28th after posting a 16:16 time.

Julie Reinwald was the first freshman to cross the finish line on Friday, recording a time of 16:23 to land in 33rd place. Senior Erica Hannemann, the other half of the co-captain unit, placed 39th while freshman Eryn Barroso earned 40th.

Cougar newcomer, Yasiris Gonzalez, took 45th in her UH debut and junior Ciera Johnson rounded out the lineup in 50th.

In the final race of the night, Turner called on six guys to battle against the same Rice and Lamar teams they faced at their home invitational two weeks ago. Without the use of three of his top-six runners, Turner was pleased with the race.

"It was pretty interesting," Turner said. "It's like with basketball having five starters; we have six and we had to leave three of them at home. I knew they were better than what they showed at home, and I was really proud of them. They came out and competed from the beginning. Our No. 5 guy tonight is usually right now our No. 8 or 9, and he beat a lot of team's No. 5 guys tonight. I could just tell that Stephan Keller, and all of our guys, really wanted it tonight."

Junior Nate Pineda turned in another quality performance as he led all Cougars with a fifth-place finish. He ran the 5,600m course in 17:43. Always challenging his teammate, sophomore David Smith came in at 10th with a time of 18:07.

Junior Anthony Jordan ran a solid race, placing 16th after an 18:44 performance. Fellow juniors Andres Santaolalla and Keller stayed close behind to land in 20th (18:44) and 24th (19:02), respectively, to put five of the six-man lineup in the top 25.

Last season's 800m Conference USA champion, Doug Kelley, made his debut on the cross country team on Friday. The junior finished in 42nd place.

The Cougars now start preparing for the LSU Tiger Cross Country Festival on Sat., Sept. 25.

Houston women - 2nd
6. Kathryn Ducommun - 14:49
11. Brandi Witte - 15:16
12. Megan Munoz - 15:25
14. Starla Garcia - 15:35
28. Jasmine Trier - 16:16
33. Julie Reinwald - 16:23
39. Erica Hannemann - 16:34
40. Eryn Barroso - 16:41
45. Yasiris Gonzalez - 17:19
50. Ciera Johnson - 17:51

Houston men - 3rd
5. Nate Pineda - 17:42
10. David Smith - 18:07
16. Anthony Jordan - 18:32
20. Andres Santaolalla - 18:44
24. Stephan Keller - 19:02
42. Doug Kelley - 21:45

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