Second Place Finish for Aggie Women’s Cross Country

Canyon, Texas— The Panhandle State men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Buffalo Stampede, hosted by West Texas A&M University Saturday morning. Three Aggie runners earned top-ten finishes to help the women’s team take second place at the meet.

Local area freshmen Shayna Glover (Goodwell), Vanessa Gonzales (Stratford) and Gabriella Ramos (Guymon) each placed within the top-ten of the 22-runner field. Glover gained ground at second place with a time of 20:11.46 in the five kilometer contest. Gonzales finished fourth clocking 21:14.34, and Ramos ran a 5K time of 22:10.04. Sophomores Sarai Ortega (23:20.82) and Kiery Fernandez (26:19.19) finished 14th and 19th respectively. As a team, the Aggie women ranked second among the three competing teams; WTAMU finished first with an average team time of 21:31.51 and University of the Southwest (N.M.) placed third averaging 22:50.52.

Four Aggie men competed individually on the 7K course with a field of 19 runners. Senior Philip Kirongo was the first Aggie to cross the line, timing 28:23.02 for a 12th place finish. The remaining three runners followed, filling the 14-16 slots. Freshmen Korby Jenkins and Baruc Ortega posted times of 29:31.97 and 30:13. 82; and senior Firas Ghazouani clocked 31:25.82 for the Aggies. WT’s men finished first as a team averaging 24:36.80 and USW took second with a combined team score of 27:50.54.

Panhandle State’s head cross country coach Denise Levine offered comments, “I am very proud of my runners. Most of them are freshman and were pretty nervous before the race, but ended up doing amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better first meet.” Levine added, “The course was challenging due to the hills. With our flat surroundings on campus, we will have to travel as a team to practice our hill-work.”

The Aggies take to the trail again this weekend with a meet in Weatherford, Okla. hosted by Southwestern Oklahoma State University on Sept. 8.