ABILENE, Texas – The McMurry men's cross country team had personal best across the board in the team's best race of the season, finishing fifth at the American Southwest Conference Championships on Saturday morning.
McMurry had three runners finish just outside the top 14, finishing with 133 points. UT Dallas won with 43 points, followed by Hardin-Simmons (56), University of the Ozarks (68) and LeTourneau (97).
The highlight for McMurry came when freshman
John Zuniga Jr. hoisted the ASC Newcomer of the Year award, leading all McMurry runners with a 15th place finish (27:22.7). He was one spot short of making the ASC all-conference second team.
"I was very happy with both teams," said McMurry head coach
Rexi Parcells. "It was a perfect day to race fast, and they took advantage of that. On the men's side, every athlete had a personal best that ranged from 0:34 to 1:34. They all showed up on the right day and ran with each other. I couldn't have asked any more of them."
Freshman
Joe Meza and senior
Latham Hensley finished right behind Zuniga with personal best races, crossing in 16th and 17th, respectively. Meza crossed comfortably at 27:26.8, while Hensley sprinted to the finish line and edged a pair of Ozarks runners at 27:32.6.
While McMurry's front-pack finished consecutively, another trio of War Hawks also pushed each other to personal bests to support the fifth place finish.
Alec Hanshaw and
Justin Bozell scored back-to-back with times of 29:25.5 and 29:29.0, respectively.
McMurry's final personal record came from
Juan Saavedra, as the freshman crossed at 29:40.1.
Team Scores
| 1. UT Dallas |
43 |
| 2. Hardin-Simmons |
56 |
| 3. Ozarks |
68 |
| 4. LeTourneau |
97 |
| 5. McMurry |
133 |
| 6. Concordia Texas |
156 |
| 7. East Texas Baptist |
159 |
| 8. Belhaven |
234 |
| 9. Mary Hardin-Baylor |
272 |
| 10. Sul Ross State |
294 |
| 11. Louisiana College |
332 |
2019 ASC Men's All-Conference Awards
Individual Medalist: Nathaneal Rankin, Ozarks
2
Freshman of the Year: Eric Monroy, Hardin-Simmons
Newcomer of the Year: John Zuniga Jr., McMurry
Coaching Staff of the Year: UT Dallas
(Danielle Kcholi - Head Coach) 2
Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year: Mack Broussard, East Texas Baptist
2 Two-time winner
First Team
Nathaneal Rankin, Jr., Ozarks
Tyler Rohrman, Sr., Hardin-Simmons
4
Michael Harris, Sr., Ozarks
3
Mack Broussard, So., East Texas Baptist
2
Andres Uriegas, Jr., UT Dallas
2
Lorien Nightingale, Jr., LeTourneau
2
Trent Sakakini, So., UT Dallas
2
Second Team
Eric Monroy, Fr., Hardin-Simmons
Griffin Davis, Fr., UT Dallas
Chris Reyna, Sr., UT Dallas
Zach Mitchell, Fr., Hardin-Simmons
John Gabriel, Sr., UT Dallas
Sammy Magallen, Jr., Hardin-Simmons
2
Spencer Gambrell, Fr., LeTourneau
4 Four-time All-Conference
3 Three-time All-Conference
2 Two-time All-Conference
