The University of Arizona men’s and women’s cross country team raced in the Wildcats’ last regular season meet where both teams found success: The men’s team placed 1st overall and the women placed 3rd. The competition took place at the Highlander Invitational in Riverside, Calif. on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 8 a.m.
Race recap
The men’s team was led by Gideon Mengich, a UA freshman from Kenya, who won the men’s 8k with a time of 23:42.8: his personal best. Mengich has finished 1st for the team in every meet of the season so far, leading the Wildcats to victory. The men placed 1st overall, finishing with a score of 65 points as the University of California, San Diego trailed behind the Wildcats with 72 points.
Following closely behind Mengich were UA runners Ian Sanchez Lopez, a senior from Mexico, and Michael Urbanski, a sophomore from Tucson. Sanchez Lopez placed 4th overall and had the second-best time for the Wildcats, 24.10.0. Urbanski came in at 8th overall and 3rd for the team finishing with a time of 24.17.2.
For the women’s team, Arizona finished strong with the lead of Molly Lakustiak, a junior from Canada. She ran a personal best time of 20:48.0 in the women’s 6k, finishing 4th overall and 1st for the team. Freshman Brooklyn Hanania came in 2nd for the team with a time of 21:22.8, her personal best as she finished 15th overall. Hanania shaved off over a minute from her past personal record, climbing up eight places in the last 2k of the race.
Kara Mickelson and Laura Holánszky also reached personal bests in the 6k race finishing 5th and 6th for the Wildcats, as Mickelson placed 50th (22.18.8) and Holánszky placed 53rd (22.20.8) overall.
The women finished with 122 points for Arizona, following UC San Diego (59 points) and San Diego State University (41 points).
The Highlander Invitational was the men’s first overall win of the season as well as the Wildcats’ lowest scoring total yet. This race also marked the women’s third top three team placement of the season.
Looking Ahead
As the regular season comes to a close, the Wildcats will be heading to compete in the Big 12 Championship which will be held in Waco, Texas on Friday, Nov. 1.
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