Women’s Cross-Country

Women’s cross-country wins 10th conference championship

For the sixth year in a row and 10th time overall, the women’s cross-country team has captured the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Women’s Cross-Country Championships. This victory adds to the team’s impressive track record in the RRAC, having consistently performed at the top of the competition over the years. The event was held at the Windcrest Golf Course.

OLLU’s victory was a collective effort, as they outpaced second-place Texas A&M University—Texarkana (TAMUT) with four of the top five individual times and six of the top eight. This strong team performance was a key factor in their success.

Third place went to Xavier University of Louisiana, who had one runner in the top 10 – Skylah Barton. Fourth place went to Jarvis Christian University.

OLLU junior Mia Curiel claimed the RRAC individual championship with a time of 24:03.6 on the 6000m course, 15 seconds ahead of the field. Leilani Leza, another standout performer, placed third for the Saints with a time of 24:41. Their exceptional performances were key to the team’s success in the championships.

The women have won nine individual championships. Jasmine Garcia won the title in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Annie Trejo won in 2018, while Lindsey Broussard won in 2019, Nadia Sifuentes in 2021 and 2022, and Sanai Robinson won the title last season.

Brett Charlton, in his first year as head coach, also captured Coach of the Year honors.

Joining Curiel and Leza for All-Conference are Liliana Hernandez for fourth place with a time of 24:45, Victoria Bartlett for fifth place with a time of 24:49, Valeria Peña for seventh place with a time of 25:01 and Claudia Helena Lopez in eighth place with a time of 25:29. Daylah Vega’s time was 27:38 for 15th place.

What’s next

The women have qualified for the 45th Annual NAIA Women’s Cross-Country National Championship that will take place Nov. 22 at the Gans Creek Cross-Country Course in Columbia, Miss.

Women’s cross-country places fifth

The women’s cross-country team placed fifth out of nine teams at the OLLU Invitational held at the Windcrest Golf Course on Oct. 12.

Head Coach Brett Charlton commented, “This was a great meet for our cross-country program. We had 14 women’s teams competing. It was the biggest invite in program history. The women had a good meet. There is definitely a lot to build off of heading into our conference meet. We had several big personal bests. It was a confidence-boosting meet for our ladies.”

The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley won the meet with 24 points. Five runners finished in the top 10 overall. Midwestern State University placed second, followed by Angelo State University, Trinity University, and OLLU. After OLLU were Texas A&M International University, the University of St. Thomas, Texas Lutheran University, and Schreiner University.

Leading the way for the Saints was Valeria Pena, who had a time of 23:14 in the 6000m for 21st place. Leilani Leza marked a time of 23:44, followed by Liliana Hernandez with 24:03, Victoria Bartlett with 24:09, Claudia Lopez with 24:32, Jasmine Hernandez with 24:33, and Daylah Vega with 26:33. A total of 80 runners participated.

What’s next
The Saints will get set to host the highly anticipated Red River Athletic Conference Championship Meet on Nov. 1 at Windcrest Golf Course in Windcrest, Texas. The women have won the conference championship the last five years and a total of nine time since the program began competing in 2009.

Women’s cross-country earns second place at Saints Invite

The women’s cross-country team placed second out of four teams at the Sixth Annual Saints Cross-Country Invite Sept. 20 at the Windcrest Golf Course.

Winning the 6000m was NCAA D2 University of Texas-Kingsville with 22 points. Four of the Javelinas placed 1-4. Following OLLU with 45 points was NCAA D3 Texas Lutheran University with 57 points and NAIA Nelson University with 96 points.

Finishing in fifth place overall was OLLU’s Leilani Leza, who marked 24:14.7. She was followed by Valeria Pena, who marked a 24:30.5 time for seventh, Victoria Bartlett at 24:58.8 for eighth place and Liliana Hernandez at 25:08.7 for ninth place.

Other OLLU finishers were Claudia Lopez with a time of 26:07.5, Daylah Vega – 27:14.5 and Jasmine Hernandez – 27:19.4.

Women’s cross-country participates in UIW Invitational

The women’s cross-country team participated in the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Invitational on Sept. 13.

Assistant Coach Jose Zarate commented, “The women raced very well pushing themselves making bold moves. I am proud of how they ran showing their strength in a long race with the women in the 5k.”

The Saints ran the 5000m and placed eighth among NCAA D1, D2 and D3 schools. Winning the competition was Northern Colorado, followed by Texas State University, UIW, the University of Texas at Incarnate Word, the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley, Trinity University, Texas A&M University – Kingsville and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Following OLLU was Texas A&M International University. The meet was held at the Windcrest Golf Club.

Mia Curiel was the top performer for the Saints. Her time of 19:52 landed her in 39th place out of 80 runners. Other runners included Liliana Hernandez with a time of 20:47, Victoria Bartlett -1:01, Jasmine Hernandez -22:00, Claudia Helena Lopez – 22:00, Valeria Peña – 22:08, Daylah Vega – 22:25 and Leilani Leza – 26:28.

The Saints will host the Saints Cross-Country Invite on Oct. 20 at the Windcrest Golf Club in Windcrest, Texas.

Women’s cross-country wins dual match with Kingsville

The women’s cross-country team participated in the Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) Qualifying Meet on Oct. 26. The event was held at Olmos Basin and hosted by TAMUK.

OLLU won the dual meet with a score of 15, while TAMUK marked 40.

Leading the way for the Saints was Valeria Pena, who ran the two mile with a time of 12:07 for first place. Pena set the OLLU record in the two mile.

Leilani Leza finished second with a time of 12:20, followed by Jocelynn Reyes with a time of 12:29 for third place, Sierra Ramirez with a time of 12:36 for fourth place and Daylah Vega with a time of 13:25 for fifth place.

What’s next

The Saints will get set for the Red River Athletic Conference Championships hosted by Texas A&M University – Texarkana on Friday.

Women’s cross-country captures the Saints Collegiate Invite

The women’s cross-country team captured the Fifth Annual Saints Collegiate Cross-Country Invite on Oct. 7. The women won the meet in 2017 and placed third in 2018 and 2022 and fourth in 2019.

OLLU won the event with 24 points, followed by Trinity University with 58, Texas A&M International University 66 and Texas Lutheran University with 80 points.

Sanai Robinson broke the OLLU record in the 6k with a time of 21:55 for fourth place. The record was previously held by Nadia Sifuentes with a time of 22:35.

Viridiana Zuniga followed in fifth place with a time of 23:30, Sierra Ramirez in sixth with a time of 23:37, Leilani Leza in ninth with a time of 23:56 and Mia Curiel in 10th with a time of 24:02.

Broussard and Zuniga named NAIA Scholar-Athletes

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the 2022 Daktronics NAIA Women’s Cross-Country Scholar-Athletes on Nov. 14. Lindsey Broussard and Viridiana Zuniga have been selected from OLLU.

The 2022 list features student-athletes who achieved at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average (GPA) at their institution. In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended one full year at said institution.

Broussard earned a 3.80 GPA, while Zuniga marked at 3.63 GPA.

Saints women win eighth RRAC cross-country championship

The women’s cross-country team has won its eighth Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Cross-Country Championships. The event took place Friday morning at the Culebra Creek Park in San Antonio.

The women’s team marked 29 points to win the 5k. The Saints were followed by Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) with 43 points, Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) with 94 points, Huston-Tillotson University (HTU) with 104 points, the University of the Southwest (USW) with 128 points and Jarvis Christian University (JCU) with 139 points.

Nadia Sifuentes captured her second consecutive Individual Medalist Award with a time of 19:00.8. Deandra Ibarra came in third place with a time of 19:10.9. Viridiana Zuniga finished in sixth place with a time of 20:03.4. Mia Curiel came in ninth place with a time of 20:33.4. Sierra Ramirez placed 10th with a time of 20:41.1. All five received All-Conference honors.

Other finishers were Robbie Sue Espericueta, who placed 11th with a time of 20:45.9. Kennedy Villalpando came in 12th place with a time of 20:50.2. Liliana Hernandez finished in 14th place with a time of 21:44.9 and Lindsey Broussard came in 15th place with a time of 21:49.5.

Deandra Ibarra was named Freshmen of the Year, and Head Coach Patrick Torres received Coach of the Year honors.

The women’s team first won the conference meet in 2013 and repeated in 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the University of the Southwest captured the women’s title, with the Saints as runners-up. The Saints returned in 2019 to win and proceeded to capture the title in 2020 and 2021.

Seniors ceremony
After the event and awards ceremony, the university honored seniors Lindsey Broussard, Robbie Sue Espericueta and Nadia Sifuentes, as well as track and field’s Lauren Perry. Each talked about their plans and memories of their time at OLLU.

What’s next
The team will now prepare for the NAIA’s 48th Annual Women’s Cross-Country National Championship that will take place Nov. 18 in Tallahassee, Fla.

Women place third in Saints Cross-Country Invitational

The women’s cross-country team participated in the Fourth Annual Saints Collegiate Cross-Country Invite at the Culebra Creek Soccer Fields.

The women came in third place. Winning the meet was Texas A&M International University, and following OLLU was Trinity University. Cisco College and Sul Ross State University followed.

Nadia Sifuentes led the way for the team with a fourth-place finish in the 6K with a time of 23:44. Kennedy Villalpando came in 10th place with a time of 24:15, followed by Robbie Sue Espericueta in 14th place with a time of 24:36. Sierra Ramirez finished with a time of 25:04.8. Liliana Hernandez’s time was 25:45 and Lindsey Broussard’s time was 28:07.5.

What’s next
The Saints will get set for the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M University in College State on Oct. 15.

Women’s cross-country places ninth at UIW Invitational

The Saints women’s cross-country team placed ninth in a field of 14 teams at the UIW Invitational sponsored by the University of the Incarnate Word.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “It’s no secret we were running down some of our top runners. Despite that, this group went out brave and ran well. Deandra Ibarra’s freshman campaign is one of the best I’ve ever seen, and special recognition should go to Viridiana Zuniga for asserting herself into our top five. When we get healthy, we will be so much better having had these experiences.”

Full team results for the women’s 6k are listed below:
Northern Colorado – 29 points

UIW – 46 points

University of Texas at San Antonio – 88 points

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi – 107 points

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley – 125 points

McMurry University – 166

Texas A&M International University – 181 points

Trinity University – 193 points

OLLU – 227 points

Texas Lutheran University – 283 points

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor – 313 points

University of St. Thomas – 332 points

University of Dallas – 435

Sul Ross State University – 438 points

Leading the way for the Saints was Deanna Ibarra, who ran with a time of 23:35.1 for 18th place out of a slate of 110 runners. Viridiana Zuniga’s time was 25:00, followed by Mia Curiel at 25:17, Kennedy Vallalpando at 25:28, Sierra Ramirez at 25:50, Robbie Sue Espericueta at 26:14 and Liliana Hernandez at 27:44.

What’s next
The Saints will get set to host the Saints Invitational on Oct. 7 at the Alamo Sportsplex, Culebra Creek Soccer Fields, in San Antonio.