University of Houston Athletics
Cross Country Continues 2015 at Rice Invitational
9/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
HOUSTON â€" The Houston Cougar men's and women's cross country teams return to action following their sweep of the HBU Season Opener when they travel across town to compete at the 40th Annual Rice Invitational on Friday, Sept. 11 at 6:15 p.m., on the campus of Rice University.
Houston will compete against teams from Texas and Louisiana as they run alongside Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, McNeese State, Prairie View, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-International, Texas Southern, Louisiana-Lafayette, UT-Rio Grande Valley and the host school Rice.
The Cougars will begin competing at 6:15 when the women's 4K kicks off, followed by the men's 5.5K, which is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. Running festivities kick off on Friday with a college race at 5:30 p.m., followed by the YAHOO Race at 5:50 p.m., which is open to all runners.
Houston is fresh off a pair of victories at the HBU Season Opener, where both the men and women each defeated Houston Baptist, Sam Houston State and Texas Southern in the overall meet and in the double duals portion of the meet.
Junior Maddie Brown claimed the individual championship in the women's two-mile race when she crossed the line in 11:56. Brown's performance was the top finish of her career and earned her The American Athletic Conference's Female Athlete of the Week Award for the initial week of the season.
Houston freshmen Meredith Sorensen (12:11) and Nikita Prasad (12:21) also each finished in the top-five, while sophomore Emely Morgado (12:44) and freshman Jennifer Dunlap (12:52) placed in the top-10.
Junior transfer Edwin Munoz finished as Houston's best finisher in his first race for the Cougars since transferring from Stephen F. Austin. The Kaufman, Texas, native crossed the line in 15:54.53 to finish third, and second among collegiate athletes. Freshman G.J. Reyna also made a strong debut with a fourth place finish in 16:01.52 while junior Gabe Lara (16:13.39) and senior Zachary Stewart (16:21.17) both posted top-10 finishes.
IN THE CLASSROOM
Following the 2014 season, the Cougar Men's Cross Country team was honored by the NCAA for perfect Academic Progress Report Scores with the NCAA Public Recognition Award. The award marked the second straight year the men have been honored for ranking among the top-10 percent of all cross country programs in APR.
STAY CONNECTED
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