KEATING POSTS BEST BRONC FINISH EVER, SEVENTH AT NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
For Immediate Release: Monday, 24 November 2003
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

EDINBURG, TX-Once again, junior distance runner Westly Keating (Pharr, TX/PSJA North HS/Texas) of The University of Texas-Pan American has gone where no UTPA runner has gone before.

Keating finished seventh at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships Monday, posting the best finish ever by a Texas-Pan American runner and earning All-American honors for the second consecutive season. He finished the 10 kilometer race at the Irv Warren Golf Course in Waterloo, IA with a time of 29:30.4, just 16.3 seconds behind the champion, Dathan Ritzenhein of Colorado.

Battling frigid temperatures, Keating turned in the best finish of any runner who qualified from the South Central Region. He also finished second among all individual qualifiers. "It was really cold and windy, and I got out early with the leaders," said Keating. "I was running with five guys, and at the 8K (kilometer) mark, we started separating a little bit. Everyone made their moves, and I ended up seventh."

Despite being a perfectionist, Keating was pleased. "This was probably one of my best performances," said Keating, "I ran as hard as I could, and I'm happy with the race. I wanted to finish top 10, and I knew I had a decent shot. After running the way I ran outdoors last year, I knew I could stay with those guys. It helped a lot having some of the guys on the team come up and cheer me on. Their support helped take my mind off the race, and that helped me a lot."

Keating's performance made quite an impression. "Westly ran an awesome race," said UTPA Assistant Coach Doug Molnar. "It was about 18 degrees and the wind was gusting out of the north at about 20 miles an hour. Westly was in the pack with the leaders, and he pretty much stayed there the whole race. He was in the lead at the 5K split and between six and seven thousand meters, some guys surged and split the pack up a little bit."

Keating's performance was no surprise to UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "When Westly makes up his mind to do something, he's really focused," said Vaughn. "He wanted to finish in the top 10, and he went out and achieved his goal. When you have a student-athlete like Westly, it makes your job that much easier. Based on his workouts this year compared to what he did last year, I figured he had a chance, and this is leaps and bounds above what he did last year (25th place). He didn't let the weather bother him-he just went out and ran hard."

The race concluded the most successful season ever for Texas-Pan American's men's cross country team. The Broncs and Lady Broncs will return to action when the indoor track season begins in January.

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