Arizona men’s and women’s cross country competed in the Dave Murray Invitational on Friday, Sept. 18. This was the team’s second meet of the season. They ran the home meet at Dell Urich Golf Course.
The Wildcats were competitive, with both the men’s and women’s teams taking second in the meet.
The women did very well in the three-mile race, with three finishers in the top six. Addi Zerrenner finished second overall for the second meet in a row.
In the three-mile run, Zerrenner had a time of 16:55. Claire Green finished third with a time of 17:02. Molly Callahan finished in sixth, running a time of 17:07.
Head coach James Li was happy about the way the women ran. “The women did well, and I’m really proud of and happy with Addi Zerrenner and Claire Green. …There are athletes on the women’s side that I expect will get better, and I’m happy with how they did.”
Other female finishers in the three-mile race were Kayla Ferron, who placed 12th with a time of 17:49. Kate Penney ran a time of 18:04 and finished 14th. McKenna Gaffney finished right behind Penney in 15th place with a time of 18:05. Taryn Estavillo took 17th, running a time of 18:12. Kristen Vergara finished 20th, with a time of 18:30. Tiffany Riley and Margie Moyer finished in 45th and 46th places with times of 22:10 and 22:14.
The team finished with a total of 34 points.
Seamus White led the Arizona men. White finished 11th, running a 22:22 in the 4.25-mile race.
The men had a team score of 58.
Other notable finishers on the men side were Samuel Willis, who finished in 13th with a time of 22:45. Collins Kibet ran a time of 22:55, finishing 14th. Patrick Leary placed 16th, running a time of 23:00. Jeff Gautreau and Daniom Tecle finished in 27th and 29th with the times of 23:33 and 23:36. Alex Hart finished in 33rd, running a time of 23:56.
Hunter Davilla ran unattached, finishing in 10th with a time of 22:18.
With no top-five finishers, Coach Li said, “I expected the men to be a little better. We have some good talent on the team, but we have to get it done, and we will go back and find all the reasons we didn’t do well. We have a big competition coming up next week, and we need to turn around pretty quickly.”
Arizona’s next meet will be in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 26, as they travel to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational. The race will start at 8 a.m. Mountain time.
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