Led respectively by seniors Dustin Joubert and Whitney Rister, the Sam Houston State men’s cross country team placed seventh while the women were eighth at the annual Texas A&M Invitational Saturday morning at College Station.
The men competed without two of their top five runners who are recovering from injuries (Taylor Ray and Julius Michael). Joubert led the Bearkats with a 26th place finish with a time of 26 minutes, 14 seconds. Keith Edmond was 30th at 26:28. Freshman Mark Amann ran 26:46 in his first 8,000 kilometer race to place 33rd.
For the women, Rister placed 25th with a 19:16 time while Allison Ferries was 29th at 19:20 in the 5,000 kilometer race.
“Both our men’s and women’s teams are relying on several freshman this year to step up and perform well,” Sam Houston distance coach Jesse Parker said.
“Each race is a learning process and experience is the most important thing we need right now. I expect we’ll see significant improvements from week to week throughout the season. We’re looking forward to the Islander Splash in Corpus Christi next Friday.”