MEN THIRD, WOMEN FIFTH, KEATING FIRST AT TEXAS A&M-CC SPLASH
Contact: Mike Bond, UTPA Assistant Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX-The University of Texas-Pan American's men's and women's cross country teams ran well at the Texas A&M-CC Splash at West Guth Park Friday evening.

The Broncs finished third in the five-team field, while the Lady Broncs finished fifth of five teams. Junior Westly Keating (Pharr, Texas/PSJA North HS/Texas) finished first in the five mile men's race with a time of 24:27, 1:08 in front of the second place finisher, Stephen Magness of Rice.

Houston won the men's race with 44 points. The Cougars were followed by Rice with 60 points, the Broncs with 67 points, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 76 points and Texas-Arlington with 99 points.

Following Keating for the Broncs were senior Hugo Cervantes (Weslaco, TX/Weslaco HS/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) who was fifth in 26:10; freshman Jason Tejada (Brownsville, TX/Hanna HS) was 16th in 27:19; sophomore Aaron Castro (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial HS) was 22nd in 27:34; and freshman David Trevino (Brownsville, TX/Hanna HS) was 23rd in 27:40.

"We were right in the hunt for first place," said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "I'm very pleased with our performance. Wes ran very, very fast today-to win by 1:08 in a quality field is just incredible. Hugo did exactly what we needed him to do for us. I felt we left a little bit out there, but by November we will be ready to go."

Rice finished first in the three mile women's race with 33 points. The Owls were followed by Texas-Arlington with 47 points, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 53 points, Houston with 104 points, and the Lady Broncs with 122 points.

Texas-Pan American was led by freshman Ashley Perez (Falfurrias, TX/Falfurrias HS) who finished 18th in 19:09. Next was freshman Loraine Garcia (Laredo, TX/Nixon HS), who was 22nd in 19:22, freshman Maria Vargas (San Juan, TX/PSJA Memorial HS) was 26th in 19:52, sophomore Deanah Chavez (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North HS) was 27th in 19:55, and sophomore Claudia Rosas (Mission, TX/Mission HS) was 29th in 19:59.

"I thought we ran pretty well." said Vaughn. "Whenever a race is done, you can always look at what you could have done better. As young as we are, we are getting better. Ashley ran a very good time, and Lorraine had a very strong race."

Texas-Pan American will return to action in two weeks at the Chili Pepper Invitational at Arkansas.

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