A&M-Commerce Cross Country Begins 2010 Season

The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's cross country team began its 2010 season on Saturday at the UTA Season Opener Saturday morning at Vandergriff Park in Arlington.

In a field of Division I institutions including Baylor, North Texas, SMU, TCU and host UT-Arlington, sophomore Carolyn Bell was the top finisher for the Lions in 34th place, she covered the 5k course in 13:04.20. Just behind her was senior Kate Donovan, who was 41st in 13:39.82, sophomore teammate Jenny Speer was 44th in 13:53.57 and senior Jamie Hays finished 51st in 15:54.68.

TCU was the team champion, including individual champion Agnes Kemboi, who edged Mary Alenbratt of SMU by 45 hundredths of a second.

The A&M-Commerce men's cross country team finished fourth, leading the Lions was senior Robert Reed, who finished ninth in 21:17.20.

Four A&M-Commerce newcomers made up the remainder of the lineup. Freshman Everett Wilder was 17th in 21:53.79, freshman Tyler Hemenway was 19th in 21:56.98 and freshman Alex Kimp was 23rd in 22:13.39. Sophomore Ross Hicks and freshman Ramin Singh was 34th (22:53.43) and 40th (23:41.17), respectively.

Baylor won the men's team race with four runners in the top and Alex De la Garza of Texas Christian took home individual honors with a time of 20:16.93 for the three-second victory.

The Lions will return to action in two weeks when they travel to the Cowboy Jamboree, hosted by Oklahoma State University on September 25th.