Keating Wins Chile Pepper, Men 19th, Women 28th

KEATING WINS CHILE PEPPER, MEN 19TH, WOMEN 28TH
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

FAYETTEVILLE, AR-Junior distance runner Westly Keating (Pharr, TX/PSJA North HS/Texas) of The University of Texas-Pan American's men's cross country team has achieved another milestone.

Keating finished first at the University of Arkansas' Chile Pepper Invitational Saturday, winning by a margin of nearly 11 seconds in a 33-team field that included many of the top teams in the region.

Keating finished in 29:25.88, defeating the second-place finisher, Mircea Bogdan of Texas-El Paso. "For Westly to go in there and win a race like this is a great accomplishment," said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "This establishes him as the top runner in our region. It really wasn't that close of a race. He went out and dominated the field."

The Broncs finished 19th with 435 points. Arkansas was first with 78 points, followed by Oklahoma at 130, Alabama at 154, Abilene Christian at 176, Texas-El Paso at 217, Rice at 272, Boise State at 285, Cal Davis at 287, Belmont at 321, Stephen F. Austin at 348, Texas Tech at 355, Houston at 369, Eastern Oregon at 404, Memphis at 409, Louisiana State at 424, Virginia Tech at 431, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 432. Following the Broncs were Samford at 461, Louisiana-Monroe at 517, Oklahoma State at 530, Texas-Arlington at 540, East Central Oklahoma at 543, Western Kentucky at 577, Texas Christian at 612, Missouri-Kansas City at 734, Louisiana-Lafayette at 755, Hastings at 775, Mississippi at 823, New Mexico State at 934, McMurry at 971 and Centenary at 1054.

Following Keating for the Broncs were senior Hugo Cervantes (Weslaco, TX/Weslaco HS/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), 60th in 31:40.20; junior Americo Ortiz (Wortham, TX/Wortham HS), 123rd in 33:01.34; freshman David Trevino (Brownsville, TX/Hanna HS), 124th in 33:01.76; sophomore Aaron Castro (McAllen, TX/McAllen Memorial HS), 127th in 33:02.59; freshman Jason Tejada (Brownsville, TX/Hanna HS), 134th in 33:18.44; and freshman Benito Maldonado (Progreso, TX/Progreso HS), 140th in 33:27.59.

"Our men ran very well overall," said Vaughn. "All of our men had PRs (personal records) for 10K cross country races. We would like to have finished a little bit better as a team, but when you have seven guys who go out and each runs a PR and finish 19th in a field like this, you're doing well."

The Lady Broncs finished 28th in the 37-team field. Nevada won with 114 points, Texas Tech had 122, Arkansas 153, Virginia Tech 155, Vanderbilt 160, Texas-El Paso 195, TCU 232, Cal Davis 233, Oklahoma 284, Belmont 295, Stephen F. Austin 298, Alabama 356, Samford 370, Boise State and Texas-Arlington 465, Alabama-Birmingham 469, Western Kentucky 488, Tulsa 495, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 516, Kansas State 522, LSU 565, Harding 585, Mississippi 657, Abilene Christian 703, New Mexico State 723, Louisiana-Lafayette 724, and Memphis 726. Following the Lady Broncs were Arkansas Tech at 788, Hastings at 808, Missouri-Kansas City at 833, East Central Oklahoma at 884, Cloud City CC at 891, Southeastern Oklahoma at 1016, McMurry at 1042, Centenary at 1087, and Southwestern Oklahoma at 1096.

UTPA's freshman Loraine Garcia (Laredo, TX/Nixon HS) was 112th in 23:31, freshman Ashley Perez (Falfurrias, TX/Falfurrias HS) 132nd in 24:12, freshman Maria Vargas (San Juan, TX/PSJA HS) 147th in 24:26, sophomore Dannely Flores (Brownsville, TX/Hanna HS) 164th in 24:48, freshman Karla Hernandez (Edinburg, TX/ Edinburg HS) 174th in 25:08, freshman Lizette Garcia (McAllen, TX/McAllen HS) 200th in 25:55 and sophomore Deanah Chavez (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg HS) 202nd in 25:56.

"The women ran a solid race," said Vaughn. "When you're as young as we are, and are put into an atmosphere like this, that's a strong showing. We went up against Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and a lot of big schools. This was a very good meet to help us prepare for regionals."

Texas-Pan American will return to action Saturday, November 1st at the Independent Championships at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

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