Cross Country has disappointing showing at Pre-Nationals
DENTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 26 : North Texas Mean Green Cross Country Ken Garland Meet at Eagle Point in Denton on September 26, 2014 in Denton, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts)Courtesy North Texas Athletics
Torie Mosley | Staff Writer
North Texas Men’s Cross Country competed in its second straight Pre-Nationals meet on Saturday, Oct. 17. In a rough outing, the Mean Green finished 38th out of 42 in the 8K race against the top teams competing from across the nation in Louisville, KY.
The meet gave North Texas a feel of the course if the team were to come back to run in a potential national championship appearance on Nov. 13 at the same location.
“We had a rough day, but this is not the meet that we train for,” head coach Stephanie Slekis said. “I still feel confident about the Conference USA meet we’ve been working towards.”
Sophomore Mike Lowe placed 120th with a time of 21:24.7. Seniors Troy Taylor and Bryce McAndrew came in at 147th and 150th at 24:38.2 and 24:39.0. Junior Grady Frazier was 214th with a time of 25:01.3 and senior Silvester Harrison III finished the scoring at 224th in 25:03.6.
“I was really disappointed about how low we placed, especially after how hard we’ve been training the last two weeks,” he said. “If we had just ran 20 seconds faster we could’ve made the top 50 easily.”
That training might have played a key role in the sluggish finish for the Mean Green, according to Slekis.
“They have trained so hard for the conference meet the past two weeks that they really weren’t running at their best today,” Slekis said. “We’re still top three in the conference so we’ll be fine.”
Even with the slow finishes today, the Mean Green could still make it to the national meet by grabbing one of the top two spots in the South Central region.
The recent Conference USA male athlete of the week agrees with Slekis in not taking the outcome too seriously.
“The Conference and Regional meets are really what’s important,” Taylor said. “Last year we did bad early but ended up winning the Conference title too. When it matters, we get it done.”
The Conference USA Cross Country championships well take place on Saturday, Oct. 31 in Bowling Green, KY.
Featured Image: File Photo
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