Women place second, men third at Rim Rock Classic
10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Rim Rock Classic Combined Results
LAWRENCE, KS - The Rice Owls women's and men's cross country teams placed second and third, respectively, at Saturday's Rim Rock Farm Classic hosted by the University of Kansas.
The women, who entered the race receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Top 30 poll and were ranked fourth in the South Central Poll, received another superb performance from the two-time and reigning Conference USA Performer of the Week, Abigail Cartwright. The Dallas, Texas native placed first overall in a time of 20:28 in the 6K race to win her second individual meet of the season.
Rice was also represented in the Top 10 by seniors Katie Jensen (3rd-20:29) and Cali Roper (5th-21:05). In her first race of the season junior Elsa Racasan earned 17 points by placing 18th overall (22:02) while freshman Khayla Patel (22nd-22:16) ran another solid race. Hannah Kay (28th-22:44) and Anna Figueroa (31st-22:52) rounded out the scoring for the Owls. As a team the Owls earned 45 points, behind only Indiana (35 points) and ahead of No. 26 Kansas (46 points).
"Overall we improved over last week and I'm really proud of our Owls," Rice women's cross country head coach Jim Bevan said. "We beat the No. 26 ranked team in Kansas and were heated by a very good Indiana team that should be ranked this week. Abigail and Katie were once again absolutely awesome and they carried each other to a 1-3 finish with Katie pushing it home and Abigail providing a devastating kick. Cali is doing better and ran a tough race, she's probably about at 90-95 percent and I'm proud of how hard she's fighting. We ran Elsa in her first race of the year and she finished strong, passing 15 runners over the last 2,000 meters. Khayla continues to perform with some moxie as a freshman and Hannah and Anna continue to improve. Today was one more step forward on a challenging course.
The Rice men placed third overall with 98 points, behind Indiana (23 points) and Kansas (42 points). The Owls were led by redshirt junior Marco Ruiz, who placed 20th overall in a time of 25:15 in the 8K race. Other Owls who earned points were Imran Bell (30th), Adolfo Carvalho (31st), Matt Calem (32nd), Griffin Lee (45th), William Roberts (57th) and Clay Musial (60th).
"As a team we packed well," Rice men's cross country head coach Jon Warren said. "The group functioned as a team very well, probably as good as I have seen in quite a while. The next step is to take it to another level and get much closer to a good team like Kansas. I'm pleased with the third place finish as a team. Kansas and Indiana are really good teams. We definitely took a small step forward this week."
The Rice women will race again next Saturday, Oct. 7 at the HBU Invitational while the men's next race will come Oct. 14 at the Crimson Classic.
Rice Women's Finishers
1. Abigail Cartwright - 20:28 (1 pts)
3. Katie Jensen - 20:29 (3 pts)
5. Cali Roper - 21:05 (5 pts)
18. Elsa Racasan - 22:02 (17 pts)
22. Khayla Patel - 22:16 (19 pts)
28. Hannah Kay - 22:44 (21 pts)
31. Anna Figueroa - 22:52 (23 pts)
35. Abby Halm - 23:16
37. Fabiola Andujar-Perez - 23:25
43. Ellen Diemert - 24:04
48. Lucrecia Aguilar - 24:29
Rice Men's Finishers
20. Marco Ruiz - 25:15 (17 pts)
30. Imran Bell - 25:38 (18 pts)
31. Adolfo Carvalho - 25:38 (19 pts)
32. Matt Calem - 25:40 (20 pts)
45. Griffin Lee - 26:31 (24 pts)
57. William Roberts - 27:05 (32 pts)
60. Clay Musial - 27:11 (35 pts)
-RiceOwls.com-
Players Mentioned
