Valeria Acosta Leads Women's Cross Country In Meet Against Mary Hardin-Baylor

Valeria Acosta Leads Women's Cross Country In Meet Against Mary Hardin-Baylor

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- With rain canceling the University of Dallas Cross Country Invitational, the Southwestern University Pirates men's and women's cross country teams instead hosted the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor Crusaders for an improvisational head-to-head meet.

Valeria Acosta and Trinh Ha finished second and third on the women's side, finishing a second apart with times of 23.13 and 23.14.

 "Our ladies ran well. It was an especially good race for Trinh and Val," Diehl said. "I'm very happy with how they ran and I hope they are too."

The men's team had a strong performance, taking the top seven places with Josh Im leading the way for the Pirates with a time of 17.15. John Hattan and Will Lord rounded out the top three with a 17.20 and 18.20 marks.

"It was a hard course right here on campus but we had a great race on both sides," Head Coach Andrew Diehl said. "It makes us have a lot of respect for the old UIL athletes that used our campus for their state championships."

The Pirates now have two weeks to prepare for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in Kerrville, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 27.

"I think this race helped put us in a good position for conference," Diehl said. "The best is still to come but we're on the right path."