Cross Country Women Place Second, Men Third at Home

Friday, September 3

Houston, Texas

6:45 PM

University of Houston

Johnny Morriss UH Invitational

Cross Country Women Place Second, Men Third at Home

9/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country

Photo Gallery

Complete Results in PDF Format

Sept. 3, 2010

HOUSTON - The University of Houston cross country team finished second on the women's side while the men finished third at the Johnny Morriss UH Invitational Friday night.

In the first race of the evening, sophomore Kathryn Ducommun led the charge for the women, placing eighth with a time of 11:35.10. Junior Megan Munoz stayed close, finishing two spots back (11:40.71) to land the pair of Cougar women in the top 10. Junior Starla Garcia trailed her teammate by less than two seconds for an 11th-place mark while fellow junior Brandi Witte ran the 3200m course with a time of 11:46.46, placing 13th to put four of the ten-woman roster in the top 15.

"I am really happy with the way the women raced today," head coach Ryan Turner said. "Kat fought the whole race to stay up with the Texas runners and she did a good job. They are a good team. That's why we brought them in here, we wanted to show them what a top-five team in our region looks like and we stayed right behind them and competed. I'm proud of them."

Happy with both her own and her personal performance, senior Jasmine Trier ran the course in 12:17.96 to come in 18th. Trier's co-captain and fifth-year senior Erica Hannemann turned in a 22nd-place finish with her 12:35.96 time.

Eryn Barroso ran the best freshman time on Friday, posting a time of 12:37.47 to finish 24th while rookie Elizabeth Gilbert followed right behind in 25th (12:40.17).

"I didn't know what to expect," Barroso said of her first collegiate race. "I wasn't nervous, but I didn't have any expectations because I didn't know what it would be like. So I'm really happy with how I did."

Junior Ciera Johnson and freshman Julie Reinwald crossed the finish line back-to-back in 29th and 30th to round out the Cougar roster.

On the men's side, junior Nate Pineda kept up a grueling pace for the entirety of the race, staying in the top-five group for all three turns. He set the tone for the Cougars with a third-place finish (14:51.43), but remained humble about his performance.

"It was a good race," Pineda said. "I always start off decent, but I'm not going to get carried away. It's a good start."

Sophomore David Smith moved to the top of the pack with a late push on the course to propel himself into the top 10. His time of 15:22.87 locked him into eighth place. Junior Cole Bessner ran a strong race, finishing in 15:41.08 for 13th place to tally three top-15 runners.

The trio helped the Cougars to a third-place finish as a team behind Lamar and Rice.

"Lamar went out there and got after it," Turner said. "They've got a good group, so does Rice. Lamar is ranked fifth in our region, Rice is seventh and we're 12th. So, we're right up there since we had a couple guys in that top group, but there's room for improvement. We're taking it one race at a time."

Freshman Drevan Anderson-Kaapa earned 16th place (15:454.72) in his Cougar debut while junior Anthony Jordan landed in 21st (15:57.30). Juniors Andres Santaolalla and Stephan Keller came in at 24th and 25th, respectively as freshman Brian Tasson finished 31st in his career opener.

The Cougars stay in Houston for their next competition when make the short trip for the Rice Invitational on Fri., Sept. 17.

Houston Women
8. Kathryn Ducommun - 11:35.10
10. Megan Munoz - 11:40.71
11. Starla Garcia - 11:42.22
13. Brandi Witte - 11:46.46
18. Jasmine Trier - 12:17.96
22. Erica Hannemann - 12:35.96
24. Eryn Barroso - 12:37.47
25. Elizabeth Gilbert - 12:40.17
29. Ciera Johnson - 12:55.09
30. Julie Reinwald - 12:56.66