BLINN CROSS COUNTRY COMPETES AT THE OLD GLORY CALLOP

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information

The Blinn College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Old Glory Gallop hosted by Dallas Baptist University on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 18th-ranked Buccaneer men finished just outside of the top 10 with a 12th-place showing among 40 teams, while the 19th-ranked Blinn women placed 24th out of 41 teams.

The field of teams included NCAA, NJCAA, and NAIA programs.

On the men’s side, sixth-ranked Butler Community College claimed the team title in the 8-kilometer race.

Blinn finished ahead of ninth-ranked Ranger College

A total of 403 runners ran the course, with freshman Matthew Binkley pacing the Bucs with a 45th-place finish (42nd for team scoring purposes) in 25 minutes, 3.25 seconds. Sophomore Christian Gonzalez took 70th (64th team) in 25:31.87; freshman Brandon Lopez was 76th (68th team) in 25:35.71; freshman Ryan Fernandez was 77th (69th team) in 25:37.5; and sophomore Eric Lagat took 99th (86th team) in 25:55.22.

“The guys executed a great race and each of our top five finishers ran a personal best for an 8K race,” Blinn head coach Jesse Parker said.

Parker also praised Lopez for what he called a “phenomenal” performance. Lopez cut almost two minutes off his time from his previous race.

In the women’s 5K competition, Simon Fraser University captured the team title.

Of the 340 runners who finished the course, freshman Rosario Botello posted the Bucs’ best finish at 133rd (113th team) in 20:06.44. Freshman Kaitlin Wilson was 152nd (130th team) in 20:19.83; freshman Chloe Ross crossed the finish line in 20:30.89 for 167th place (140th team); sophomore Juliana Jeansonne took 175th (145th team) in 20:40.53; and sophomore Mia Guillen rounded out Blinn’s team score by placing 184th (151st team) in 20:48.02

“We ran well as a group, but when competing in such a large field of racers, we need to run better up front,” Parker said.

The Buccaneer men and women will now turn their focus to postseason competition, starting with the 2025 Region 14 Championships on Saturday, Oct. 18, at Brenham High School in Brenham, Texas. Blinn will host the meet. The women’s 5K begins at 5:40 p.m., while the men take the course for the 8K competition at 6:15 p.m.