Arizona cross country competed in the Pre-NCAA Invitational and made quite the show this time around in Indiana.

The Arizona women’s runners did well in Indiana, taking away first place in the 6k white race. Arizona’s runner Jennie Baragar-Petrash finished the race in third place. Baragar-Petrash finished the 6k in 20 minutes and 48 seconds. That’s a speedy average of just under 6 minutes per mile. Following Baragar-Petrash was Kayla Young, taking away 11th place in the race with a time of 21 minutes and 21.9 seconds. Liz Lansing, Keelah Barger, Lauren Neugeboren, Bailey Johnson and Alaina Kautz also had excellent races to assist their team for the race win, especially with four of those ladies also finishing in the top 100.

As for the Arizona men’s runners, Carlos Villarreal was the top finisher. Villarreal finished in fourth place in the 8k with a time of 24 minutes and 55.9 seconds. Shem Kemboi, Turlan Morlan and Connor McCabe also showed off some speed by finishing in the top 100. 

The Arizona Wildcats seem to be making some beautiful improvements as they head into championship races. In their last race in Indiana, only three of the women were able to finish top 100, and now they took away a win and had six runners finishing in the top 50. The men also showed a great deal of improvement as a whole. Two weeks ago in Indiana, Villarreal was the only one to finish in the top 100, but this week, four of the men made it in that category.

Overall, Head Coach James Li’s goal this year has been to get the team going to Nationals and consistently improving. The results from this race truly prove that is a goal not far out of sight if the Wildcats continue to showcase growth and progress.

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