NO. 10 BLINN MEN, NO. 11 WOMEN CROSS COUNTRY EARN RUNNER-UP FINISHES AT STORMY SEAS OPENER
The second-place finishes were bests for both teams since the programs relaunched in 2024
In their first meet of 2025, the Blinn College men’s and women’s cross country teams made history.
The Buccaneers placed second in both the men’s and women’s races at the Stormy Seas Opener hosted by Southwestern University on Saturday in Georgetown, Texas.
Blinn finished behind only the University of Texas in both competitions, giving the Bucs their first runners-up performances since the program’s relaunched in 2024.
“Overall, I feel good about the ability and fitness level of the team,” Blinn head coach Jesse Parker said. “It's obvious they all took their preparation seriously over the summer, and we have had good workouts since we began practices.”
Parker said that while his runners excelled behind their athleticism and raw ability, he hopes to see further improvement with the execution on the courses moving forward.
“I was disappointed with the overall execution of our races,” Parker explained. “I think many of the athletes were excited and amped up to race, but that caused several to go out too quickly in the beginning, and with the course being hilly, they paid for it over the final portion of the race. These mistakes are correctable, and we will have some training sessions over the next few weeks that will help some of the younger athletes learn how to distribute their energy better over the entire race.”
In the 13-team men’s race, UT earned 20 points to take the team crown, while the Bucs followed at 66.
A total of 124 runners completed the race.
Freshman runners Matthew Binkley and Ryan Fernandez led Blinn, placing eighth and ninth respectively. Binkley crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 50.88 seconds, while Fernandez followed at 15:55.15.
Sophomore Christian Gonzalez was 11th (15:59.60); freshman Gage Horejsi was 12th (15:60); sophomore Eric Lagat took 26th (16:40.50); freshman Brandon Lopez placed 27th (16:40.51); and sophomore Joseph Villegas took 29th (16:44.18) to round out the Bucs’ top seven
“I wasn’t really surprised with us getting second today because we believed that was a realistic spot for us,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t take the race lightly though; it gave us a good idea of where everyone is with fitness and helped get the early season nerves out of our system. Today showed we can hang with some good teams, and if we keep working on how we train and prepare, we’ll be ready to be a contender in other races later in the season."
On the women’s side, UT scored a perfect 15 points for the victory. Blinn followed with 111 points, but placed three runners inside the top 25 of the 113-runner competition.
Leading the way for the Bucs was freshman Kaitlin Wilson, who placed 20th in 20:21.64.
Sophomore Clare White finished 21st (20:30.33); freshman Rosario Botello was 22nd (20:37.11); sophomore Mia Guillen placed 30th (21:25.38); freshman Chloe Ross took 35th (21:39.96); and sophomores Sophie Pyle (21:41.76) and Juliana Jeansonne (21:50.97) finished 38th and 42nd, respectively.
"Our girls worked really hard on staying tight as a team and narrowing the gaps between other individuals,” White said. “Everyone was supportive and encouraged each other, and I think that gave us a boost."
Next up for the Bucs is a trip to the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 13 in College Station, Texas. The meet will feature mostly NCAA Division I programs. Blinn competed in the meet last season.
“I am definitely encouraged by our performance today, but everyone on the team knows we have bigger fish to fry than what we saw today,” Parker added. “The good thing is we have time to make the improvements we need to make.”
Story Courtesy of:
Joe Alberico
Blinn Sports Information Specialist