Women’s cross-country wins Concordia Classic, Deandra Ibarra captures individual medal

The Saints women’s cross-country team won its first meet since 2019 at the Concordia Classic sponsored by Concordia University Texas on Sept. 23. The women’s previous wins came in 2014 at the McMurry Bill Libby Invitational out of five teams, the Saints Collegiate Invite out of seven teams and the OLLU Collegiate Invite out of three teams.

Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “Deandra Ibarra got her first college win, and I think it will be the first of many. Our team rallied around some huge efforts by her and Viridiana Zuniga stepping up into our fifth role. We took care of business and won convincingly. I’m so excited about the talent of this team and just how they rally to run for each other.”

Deandra Ibarra won the individual medalist award with a time of 21:24.6 in the 5.5k. Nadia Sifuentes placed third with a time of 22:28.9 followed by Leilani Leza at 22:46.4 and Mia Curiel at 22:56.6. In seventh place was Viridiana Zuniga with a time of 23:07.9, and Robbie Sue Espericueta finished in 18th place with a time of 24:07.7.

Other finishers include Kennedy Villalpando at 24:12.1, Sierra Ramirez at 24:27.3, Liliana Hernandez at 24:44.9.

What’s next
The Saints will prepare for the UIW Invitational at the University of the Incarnate Word on Oct. 1.

Cross-country teams compete in 4th Annual Ram Rumble in Fort Worth

The Saints women came in third place out of five teams.
The Saints women came in third place out of five teams.

After the cross-country team’s meet in New Summerfield, Texas, was cancelled due to weather conditions, the Saints took a traveling detour to Fort Worth, Texas, to participate in the Fourth Annual Ram Rumble at Texas Wesleyan University on Saturday. Fellow Red River Athletic Conference members the University of Texas at Brownsville and Langston University were also participating in the meet, so, according to Head Coach Stephen Sherman, “It was important for us to square off with them.” On the women’s side, OLLU, UTB and Langston represent the top three conference teams. Read more online.