After a busy weekend and a long distance traveled, the UA men’s and women’s cross country teams didn’t perform to the best of their abilities in the Notre Dame Invitational Friday in South Bend, Ind.
Florida State University was in the driver’s seat for the entire meet and swept the competition by taking first place in both the men’s and women’s events.
The Arizona men’s squad finished 14th out of 25 teams and the women’s 15th out of 23 teams in what was considered the first big meet of the season.
The men’s team was led by junior Mohamud Ige, who finished the five-mile race in 52nd place overall with a time of 24:38.
The next Wildcat to cross the finish line was sophomore Victor Zazueta. His time of 24:43 was good enough for 63rd place.
Freshman Abdi Hassan, who has impressed his coaches in his first year at the UA, continued to show his talent by finishing in 69th, just four seconds behind Zazueta.
For the women’s team, senior star Irine Lagat had the most impressive effort from any Wildcat on the day: she finished the 5,000-meter race in 12th place with a time of 17:03.
Freshman Hannah Moen finished second for the Wildcats in 17:38, claiming 60th place, and freshman Hanna Henson took 93rd with her time of 18:01.
Both of the newcomers are making names for themselves.
“”It’s really important for the younger runners to run well,”” Henson said. “”It’s always nice to count on our seniors, but from a freshman standpoint, this meet was an eye-opening experience.””
Although both the men’s and women’s squads managed to beat many talented teams, Henson said the Wildcats should have been more successful.
“”I think as a team we were kind of disappointed,”” she said. “”We expected to do better than that.””
This meet was even more important because a good performance would have helped the teams make the NCAA championship meet later this season. Henson said the showing didn’t do the team any favors, as far as getting to the title meet is concerned.
Although the cross country team didn’t perform as well as it had hoped on Friday, they remain optimistic.
“”We should have finished higher but we’re running against big name schools so it’s good experience,”” Henson said. “”We belong there and we know it.””
