The University of Arizona cross country team competed in its first Big 12 Championship and fell short of top finishes in both races. The men’s team finished their 8k in the bottom half of the leaderboard, coming in 9th as a team, and the women’s 6k had the Wildcats placed 16th out of 16 teams.

The race took place in Waco, Texas on Nov. 1 with the men’s 8k taking place at 8 a.m. A few of Arizona’s men’s 8k racers were top-100 finishers and the team finished 9th out of 13 teams. 

Gideon Mengich, a freshman from Kenya, finished 36th among individual racers with a time of 23:31.61. This is yet another personal best for Mengich after he recently shattered his previous best at the Highlander Invitational on Oct. 19. This is, however, the first time Mengich has not finished first in a race this season.

Michael Urbanski and Ian Sanchez Lopez placed in 52nd and 55th respectively with times of 24:05.70 and 24:09.79. Although faster than their times in the Highlander Invitational, the team struggled to find themselves close to the conference’s nationally ranked teams.

The Wildcats’ 280 point total was a sizable 46 points below No. 8 University of Cincinnati.

The women’s team had no finishers in the top 100 and finished last behind all participating teams. The top finisher for the Wildcats, Brooklyn Hanania, finished just 102nd followed by teammate Laina Friedmann at 105th. Their times were 22:38.84 and 22:44.25 respectively   

Arizona finished with a gap of 72 points between themselves and No. 15 University of Houston.

Next up

Arizona’s men’s and women’s cross country teams will await their fates and see if they are selected for the NCAA Western Regional Championships happening Friday, Nov. 15 in Colfax, Washington.

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