COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Charleston Southern's Men's Cross Country team placed 13
th at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Friday morning at the Watts Cross Country Course. The Buccaneers had each runner who finished in their top eight record a new personal best time in the 8K with many by 30 seconds or more as well as some by a full minute. The race featured nearly 400 entries and 38 teams competing.
"I would say it was a good meet to prepare for the NCAA Regional," said
Jim Stintzi, Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. "Obviously, being short handed again hurts us, but our depth allowed us to run reasonably well in a 38 team field."
Sam Waldin was the top finisher for the Bucs finishing in 44
th with a 23:41.0, running sub-24 for the first time in his career.
Zack Wedding was the next to cross the line for CSU and turned in a massive career best time as he had a 23:48.7, nudging himself under the 24-minute barrier as well for the first time.
Zach Mickler took 86
th with his time of 24:04.4 while
Jeff Wedding recorded a 24:15.3, each serving as a massive personal best for the runners and claiming the third and fourth finishing spots on the squad.
Martin Iriondo was the fifth finisher for CSU and 143
rd overall and turned in a time of 24:31.2 in his second career 8K.
Lin Scott crossed the line at 24:48.8 for 187
th overall in his second-ever 8K race while
Christian Mariner took 210
th overall at 24:55.8. They placed as the sixth and seventh finishers on the team to complete the scoring for CSU.
Mason Raasch and
Griffin Gillespie had times of 25:12.0 and 25:27.8 with Raasch's marking a personal best time of over a full minute.
Texas Tech won the team title with a score of 62 with Boise State as the runner-up with 98. The Buccaneers had a team score of 420 and knocked off teams from Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences including North Texas, Sam Houston, Rice, Houston, Texas State, Louisiana, Baylor, Arizona State, UTEP and UTSA.
Charleston Southern will now turn their attention to the Big South Championships which will be held on the campus of the university on the morning of Friday, November 1. The team is hoping a few members of the squad will be healthy in time for the meet with Stintzi sharing "Now, we need to get healthy for conference."
The Buccaneer men will be vying for their fifth consecutive title and sixth in program history. With the victory, the streak of five consecutive would tie them with Campbell's from 2015-2019 for the third-longest in Big South history.
