UTA Mavericks cross-country teams take off at the beginning of the Western Athletic Conference championships on Oct. 31 at the Harold Patterson Sports Center.
File photo / Emmanuel Campbell
UTA cross-country concluded fall play with the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Gans Creek in Columbia, Missouri.
Freshman Dorcas Jepkosgei wrapped up her standout debut season with the program, serving as the sole Maverick to qualify and compete in the championship.
Jepkosgei finished in the top 150 among the 262 runners in the women’s 6K to tally her first national championship appearance. Her time of 20:08.9 granted a 136th-place finish.
“Dorcas ran a solid race against the best in the NCAA,” head coach John Sauerhage said in a UTA press release. “She gained a lot of experience today and it will come in handy for future championships.”
The University of Alabama’s junior Doris Lemngole led the way for the women’s race, finishing first as an individual with a time of 18:25.4. North Carolina State University took first as a team with a combined 114 points across the board. The finish was achieved by five of the seven NC State runners earning a top-100 finish, with seniors Hannah Gapes and Grace Hartman finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the men’s 10K, Oklahoma State University mounted first place as a team with 57 points, earned by five top 30 finishes. Three of the seven runners for the university finished in the top ten, two of whom finished in the top five.
The University of New Mexico finished in second in the men’s race, granted by a first-place finish from sophomore Habtom Samuel with a time of 28:33.9, about four seconds faster than Wake Forest University’s junior Rocky Hansen in second place.
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