GWC Championships Results

EDINBURG, Texas -- Matt Perri and Maximo Mendoza  placed sixth and seventh individually to earn first-team all-conference honors and lead Houston Baptist University's men to a fifth-place finish Saturday morning at the Great West Conference Cross Country Championships at Los Lagos Golf Club. The Huskies finished sixth in the women's championship race.

"It was a perfect morning for running fast," said head coach Theresa Fuqua. "Most, if not almost all, of our kids ran the fastest they have ever run for these distances, and it was a super competitive couple of races. I am extremely proud of both teams, and especially Matt and Max for getting first team all-conference. We moved up one place from last year for the men, and matched our women's finish with what is a very young group."

Perri, who ended the season as HBU's No. 1 runner in every race, and Mendoza ran with the lead pack for most of the way on the eight-kilometer (five mile) course, with Perri finishing four seconds ahead of his teammate at 24:18. Freshman Anthony Aguinaga was the third finisher for the Huskies with a stellar 25:08 to take 21st, while Sid Makhunga (36th in 25:58) and freshman Ulysses Montoya (38th in 26:01) were the other scorers for HBU. Richard Munoz (46th in 26:30) and Josh Pantoja (52nd in 26:51) rounded out the HBU squad.

Freshman Jessica Whitt also capped off her debut season as the top runner for the women's team, placing 22nd in 17:58 over the 5K (3.1 mile) distance. Behind her, fellow freshman Shelby Jones was 34th in 18:19, with Halcie Pfeiffer 37th in 18:30. The fourth and fifth scoring spots went to Angela Rojas (39th in 18:38) and Emily Shulik (42nd in 18:49). Other finishers for the Huskies were freshman Jamie Whitt (43rd in 18:57), Kenda Carroll (44th in 18:59) and Erica Clark (50th in 19:14).

Utah Valley captured both team titles, winning the men's trophy over Seattle 34-56, followed by UTPA (87), South Dakota (106), HBU (108), North Dakota (160), New Jersey Tech (169) and Chicago State (234). UVU's women scored 39 points to top UTPA (72), North Dakota (74), South Dakota (89), Seattle (90), HBU (154), New Jersey Tech (207) and Chicago State (260).

Individual titles went to UVU's Josh McCabe in 23:50, and North Dakota's Lindsay Anderson in 16:47.