Sept. 2, 2008
On a hot, dry course at the Gary Job Corps Center in San Marcos, the men's and women's cross country teams faced off against Division I and II schools at the Texas State Invitational. Running against athletic programs several times the size of Southwestern, including distance running powerhouse University of Texas-Austin, the Pirates held their own, with runners Allen Smith and Tamra Warner taking the top finishes for the two teams.
Individually, both teams fared well, with several personal records falling under the hot central Texas sun. Among those for the five mile men's course were a time of 28:06 for Smith, a 52-second PR good for 28th place, and 35th place 29:01 for Sebastian Winkler, bettering his previous time by 15 seconds. Addison English (32nd, 28:52), Benjamin Sloan (37th, 29:11) and Josh Gideon (38th, 29:17) completed the scoring group for Southwestern, who finished in 4th place.
In the women's race, which was just short of a standard five kilometer distance at three miles, Tami Warner shattered her former 5K record of 20:29 with a 12th place time of 18:38. Kristin Lahaie followed in 30th place (20:32), two minutes ahead of Kelly Parmet (49th, 22:24) and Dianna Urrego (51st, 22:51). Lauren Hamlett came in fifth for the team in 61st place with a time of 25:29.
Taking the next two weeks off, Southwestern will head to Abilene on September 27 for the Texas State D-III Championships, hosted by McMurry University. Formerly hosted at Southwestern, the race is the only meet in the state restricted to Texas Division III schools.