Oct. 9, 2001

Houston, Texas - UH Men's Cross Country Travels To Texas A&M Invitational

This Week

The University of Houston men's cross country teams will travel to College Station, Texas on October 13 to run in the 2001 Texas A&M Invitational. The Cougars enter the meet after finishing 27th out of 37 teams at Lehigh's Paul Short Run on October 6. The UH women's cross country squad will not run this weekend after finishing ninth at Lehigh.

Looking At The 2001 Texas A&M Invitational

The 14th annual Texas A&M Invitational will be held at the TAMU Golf Course in College Station. The five-mile men's race will begin at 10:20 a.m. and include 12 teams from Arkansas-Little Rock, Drake, Lamar, McNeese State, Sam Houston State, SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Southern and Trinity.

Lady Cougars In The Polls

The Houston women cross country team is ranked ninth in the latest NCAA South Regional Coaches Poll. The Lady Cougars moved up one spot after being ranked 10th in the poll during the two previous weeks. Houston was ranked Number 10 on September 12 and September 25.

Arkansas is the top team in the women's poll. Baylor is ranked second and Texas A&M is third. Texas is ranked fourth followed by Rice, TCU, LSU, Arkansas-Little Rock and Houston.

The Lady Cougars are two votes shy of moving up to eighth place in the ranking, and is one vote ahead of Tulane in the poll.

Lady Cougars Finish Ninth at Lehigh

The UH women's cross country team finished in ninth place out of 37 teams at Lehigh's Paul Short Run on October 6. Jessica Oakes was Houston's top runner as she finished 14th out of 269 competitors after completing the 6,000-meter course in 21:46.29.

Houston finished the meet with 296 team points. Penn State was the team champion in the race with 109 points. Bucknell was second with 123 points.

Rhode Island's Erin Silvering was the individual champion with a time of 21:08.00 and Penn State's Michelle Wale was the runner-up with a time of 21:15.85.

Houston's other runners included Julie Perez, Heather Howse, Monica Reyna, Terri Littlepage, Kelly McCarty and Veronica Ramirez.

Perez was 41st in a time of 22:23.00, while Howse was 72nd with a time of 22:44.85. Reyna was 84th with a time of 22:55.14, Littlepage finished 85th in 22:55.73, McCarty finished 87th in 22:57.81 and Ramirez was 116th in 23:20.13.

Houston Men End Up 27th at Lehigh

The UH men's cross country team finished 27th out of 37 teams at Lehigh's Paul Short Run with 713 points after a two-week layoff.

Sophomore Jared Kuntz was the Cougars' top runner in the race as he finished 98th in a time of 26:29.57. Toartou Kargou was 116th in a time of 26:38.80 and Ronnie Martinez had a time of 27:08.85.

Kevin Ward was 166th with a time of 27:11.75 and Cole Dailey was 175th in a time of 27:17.29.

Penn State was the men's team champion with 66 points and Bucknell was second with 135 points. Connecticut's Daniel Wilson was the individual champion with a time of 24:19.33. .

Lady Cougars at Texas Intercollegiate

Led by Monica Reyna's 11th place finish, the UH women's cross country team posted a third-place finish at the Texas Collegiate Invitational Friday, Sept. 28, at the Walter E. Long Lake Course. Texas won the meet with 31 points and Rice was second with 32 points. Houston finished third with 65 points and Sam Houston State was fourth with 102 points.

Reyna finished the 5,000-meter course in 19:22.32, and she ended the race just ahead of teammates Julie Perez, Terri Littlepage, Vanessa Golston and Crystal Ryan. Perez completed the course in 19:27.07 to finish 12th, while Littlepage was 13th in 19:30.11 and Golston was 14th with a time of 19:38.23.

Oakes Named Conference USA Women's Runner of the Week

Sophomore Jessica Oakes was named the Conference USA Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week September 25 after winning the Houston Invitational on Friday, September 21 at Allen Parkway.

Oakes led the Lady Cougars to a first-place finish as she claimed individual medallist honors with a time of 17:13 in the three-mile race. She finished 17 seconds ahead of Texas Pan-American's Perla Rios-Handly (17:30).

UH Sweeps Houston Invitational

The University of Houston men's and women's cross country teams won both division of the Houston Invitational at Allen Parkway on Friday, September 21. The Cougars had the top seven runners in the men's division, while the Lady Cougars had five of the top six finishers in the women's race. Toartou Kargou won the first race of his collegiate career as he won the men's four-mile race with a time of 21:03. In addition, Jessica Oakes also picked up her first collegiate victory as she won the women's three-mile race in 21:03.

Houston's other performances in the men's division included a second-place finish by Jared Kuntz (21.03). Juan Cardenas was third (21:11), Ronnie Martinez was fourth (21:11) and Kevin Ward was fifth (21:17).

In the women's race, Veronica Ramirez was fourth (17:51), Heather Howse was fifth (17:57), Kelly McCarty finished sixth (18:02) and Julie Perez was seventh (18:06).

Long Layoff

Prior to the Houston Invitational, both of Houston's cross country teams had not competed since August 31 at the Rice Relays, a span of 20 days. The Cougars were schedule to compete in the Rice Invitational on September 15 and the Lady Cougars were slated to compete in the Texas Invitational on September 15, but both meets were cancelled due to the recent attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

Looking Ahead

Following the Texas A&M Invitational, both of Houston's cross country teams will travel to Greenville, N.C. and compete in the Conference USA Championships on October 27 at Greenville, N.C., Houston will return to the state of Texas and travel to the Texas A&M Invitational on October 13 before competing in the Conference USA Championships on October 27.