CLINTON – Jeremiah Garcia raced to a personal-best time of 24:26.15 to win the Watson Classic for the East Texas A&M University men's cross country team Friday morning on the Choctaw Trails.
 
Garcia (Northwest Eaton) rose from third to winning the race in the final 3,000 meters of the 8,000-meter race. Union's Aaron Fynaardt timed 24:31.80 for second. The Lion men recorded a team score of 88 points to finish second with Mississippi College winning its home race with a score of 63 points.
 
The Lion women took fourth with 142 pts in the 6,000-meter race. Mississippi College also won the women's race with a total of 38 points. Friday was the final regular season race as the Southland Conference Championships take place in two weeks.
 
Behind Garcia, Josh Shanahan (Noosaville, Australia) took fourth with a time of 24:52.02, Yosef Abdulrazeq (Mansfield Legacy) clocked in at 25:57.18 for 22^nd, Noah Fernandez (San Antonio Central Catholic) recorded a time of 26:15.70 for 30^th, and Andrew Crosby (McKinney – Boyd) timed 26:33.78 for 47^th.
 
Rounding out the Lion men, Taylor Warrick (Stockdale) timed 26:50.58 for 60^th and Christian James (Rosharon – Manvel) took 88^th with a time of 27:53.67.
 
For the Lion women, Edith Martinez (Sulphur Springs) clocked in at 23:15.94 for 20^th place, Haleigh Risner (Winnsboro) timed 23:21.39 for 24^th, Mareva Heck (Marseille, France) took 32^nd with a time of 24:00.29, Aamarie Ebarb (Weslaco) timed 24:45.10 for 47^th, and Hannah Stuart (Canyon) clocked in at 25:47.90 for 69^th.
 
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The Lions now gear up for the Southland Championships in Natchitoches, Louisiana, on October 31.