Running toward the WAC

UTRGV Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country Teams prepare for their Western Athletic Conference Championship this Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri.

The men’s team competed Oct. 19, finishing 13th out of 26 affiliations in the South Texas Showdown presented by the Navy Army Community Credit Union.

According to goutrgv.com, many players broke program and personal records.

Cross-Country Head Coach Darren Flowers was proud of the outcome during the competition.

“I saw some things on the horizon coming with a few of these kids … with Abraham [Chirchir], and even Alex Muñoz, I saw him progressing in workouts,” Flowers said. “We knew it was going to be a matter of time before these athletes were gonna break through.”

Sophomore Chirchir finished with a time of 23:41.2, breaking the program’s previous 8K record with a 1.8 second difference.

Finishing 28th in the competition, freshman Muñoz also entered the record book by recording the 10th fastest time in program history with a time of 24:27.1.

The women’s team also participated in the South Texas Showdown to break some records of their own.

Sophomore Dorcas Koech also entered women’s program history as the third fastest in 6K finishing 17th out of 238 competitors.

The teams are currently preparing for the WAC Championship.

“WAC has become one of the best mid-major conferences in cross-country in the nation,” Flowers said. “Teams in our conference are winning big meets and it’s no slouch of [a] conference, so it’s very, very tough. We have some really, really good kids up front. … Our biggest challenge is for our three, four, five, six to close the gap between our one and two.”

After being recognized by the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association, UTRGV will enter the WAC Championship as a Top Ten in regional ranking.

The women’s team jumped four positions to rank 8th at regionals, while the men ranked 9th.