DALLAS, TEXAS – As the 2023 American Southwest Conference Championships loom on October's horizon, McMurry University interim head men's and women's cross-country coach Corey Koch saw plenty of promise for what may lie ahead Saturday, Oct. 7.
 
Battling a loaded multi-divisional field at Dallas Baptist University's Old Glory Gallop, Koch's charges produced nearly all personal-best times on the men's side and five personal records on the women's side when the dust settled. The Maroon and White tallied 441 points for a 17^th-place mark for the men and 396 points for a top-half 13^th-place women's leaderboard ending.  
 
"It was great to see both teams compete as they did," McMurry's head coach said. "We're obviously beginning a big month with the conference meet coming up, so for us to get so many personal records against some strong competition was a big positive."
 
Individual highlights were garnered by freshman Isaac Gonzales (Big Spring, Texas) and senior Abram Maldonado (Weslaco, Texas) for the men and sophomore Savanna Danner (Kennedale, Texas) and junior Ashley Shea (Bulvedere, Texas) for the women. Gonzales' 26:05.8 and Maldonado's 26:01 are among the program history's top 10 8K clockings. Danner's 18:55.5 and Shea's 19:21.8 are in the same territory 5K-wise for the women.
 
"It didn't end with those four, either," Koch said. "Freshmen Anna Dinaso (Conroe, Texas) and Abigail Huffhines (Aquilla, Texas) proved key for the women, as Anna ran her first sub-20-time, and Abigail, in just her second 5K race ever, broke into the 20s. Those were two awesome efforts."
 
McMurry opened their first set of back-to-back weekend competitions for the only time this year at DBU. They make a quick turnaround Friday, Oct. 13, at Mississippi College.