HOUSTON -- Matt Perri continued his streak of quality performances and freshman Jessica Whitt once again finished as the team's top runner Friday to lead Houston Baptist's men and women at the HBU/Puma Cross Country Invitational, presented by Space City Pain Specialists.
Perri, a sophomore from Tomball, finished two seconds behind Northwood's Alfred Kite, covering the 5,000-meter course in 14:52 to help the Huskies claim second place in the team standings. Maximo Mendoza also turned in his best effort of the season to finish fifth at 15:14. Freshman Anthony Aguinaga nabbed 13th, and Sid Makhunga was 16th, while Josh Pantoja finished 23rd to round out the HBU scorers. Rice won with 34 points to the Huskies' 52.
Whitt, who has been HBU's number one runner each week, ran 14:34 for the 4,000-meters to take eighth as Rice's women swept the top seven places to score a perfect 15 points and take the team title. Nicole Mericle was the individual champion at 13:54. Angela Rojas (17th) and Jamie Whitt (19th) also had solid efforts for HBU, with freshman Shelby Jones (21st) and Halcie Pfeiffer (24th) claiming the other scoring spots for the Huskies. Sam Houston State placed second in the team standings with 70 points, three ahead of HBU. Baylor took fourth with 84.
"It was a beautiful day and a fast course" said head coach Theresa Fuqua. "Matt and Jessica again showed themselves as the leaders of our team, and I though several other Huskies had much-improved performances. It was nice to be able to race over a shorter distance to get some different work in, and it should help us down the road when we go to the Great West Conference championship meet on a flat course in Edinburg."
Montgomery placed three runners in the top ten to win the high school girls' division, and Houston Lamar's Bria Guerin took individual gold with an 11:07 over the 3,000-meter course. In the high school boys' 4,000-meter race, Deer Park eked out a one-point victory over Montgomery, 89-90, despite Montgomery's David Holobowicz winning individual honors in 12:48.
