Men's Results • Women's Results
LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Overcoming a near-calamitous fall about three-quarters of the way through the race, HBU's
Matt Perri battled back to finish fifth Friday and earn all-conference first team honors at the Southland Conference cross country championships at the Ward 3 Recreation Complex.
The Huskies were competing in the SLC championships for the first time after joining the league in the summer, and Perri became the first all-conference runner for HBU with his 25:14.9 for the 8,000-meter course. Conditions during the race were far from ideal after torrential rains on Wednesday and Thursday, but the sun was shining as the men got under way at 9:30 a.m.
Perri was third and near the leaders through the first 4K loop, and was in striking distance at 6K before he came a cropper near a small bridge and went down in the mud. He recovered over the final mile but could not make up enough ground on eventual champion Matt Johnsen of Lamar and his teammates Ash Harrell (2nd) and Sam Stabler (4th), or Stephen F. Austin's Nick Guerra (3rd).
Freshman
Juan Fraga was 43rd behind Perri, with fellow newcomers
Orlando Garcia (46th) and
Jeremy Lewis (48th) just ahead of
Javier Zamora (53rd) to give HBU 195 points.
Oscar Garcia was 54th,
Ulysses Montoya was 57th, and
Eladio Perez finished 61st to round out the Huskies' squad. Lamar put five men in the top 10 and scored 26 points to claim the team title ahead of SFA.
Running in the fog with an 8:30 a.m. start,
Gabriela Busquet moved up steadily through the field to finish 22nd and lead the Huskies to a sixth-place team finish in the women's six-kilometer race. Busquet clocked 22:48, nine seconds ahead of
Hiba Kreidie, who was 26th.
Jessica Whitt claimed 34th, ahead of
Carolyn McClanahan (52nd) and freshman
Kierstin Santana (59th) to give HBU 190 points.
Stephanie Aguilar (65th) and
Jamie Whitt (66th) were the other finishers for the Huskies.
Lamar took top honors with 36, while Central Arkansas finished second behind individual champion Brooke Cassar, who won by more than 12 seconds in 20:42.
HBU will head to Waco for the NCAA South Central Regionals on Friday, Nov. 15.
