Cross Country Heads to Santa Clara Invite (Men 7th, Women 12th)

ABOUT THE SCU BRONCO INVITATIONAL
The men’s collegiate invitational 8K is set to begin at 6:45 a.m. CT and the women’s collegiate invitational begins shortly after at 7:30 a.m. CT. Full results for both races can be found by clicking HERE.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The Cougars return to action for their final regular-season meet of the season. The last time Houston raced, both the men’s and women’s squads walked away with team titles at the Lake Charles Toyota Stampede. Jemal Wote led the men’s squad with a fourth-place finish on the men’s side and was rewarded for his efforts by earning American Athletic Conference Male Runner of the week honors. The men’s team improved to No. 7 in the South Central region, its highest ranking of the season.

Darby Gauntt earned her second top-five finish of the season at McNeese to lead the women’s squad to its second team title of the season. The Houston women remain at No. 4 in the South Central regional rankings for the fourth consecutive week.

The men’s team finished seventh in the team standings, led by Jemal Wote who turned in a team-high 14th-place finish in the men’s collegiate 8K with a collegiate-best time of 24:29.0. This is the second straight race that Wote has led the men’s team. Devin Vallejo-Bannister was the second Cougar on the men’s side to finish in the top-50 with a 34th-place finish at 24:49.6, a collegiate best for the sophomore. Winding out the top-50 for the Cougars was Alan Elbanna who finished in 47th-place at 24:55.2.

On the women’s side Jahnavi Schneider led the women’s squad with a 17th-place finish with a collegiate-best 20:47.0. This marks Schneider’s second straight week with lifetime best. Darby Gauntt came in second for the Cougars in 21st-place with a time of 20:55.0. Meredith Sorensen rounded out the top-50 for Houston, finishing in 37th-place at 21:14.1, a collegiate-best for the senior.