Bulldog Cross Country teams start year with 2019 UIW Opener

Bulldog Cross Country teams start year with 2019 UIW Opener

SAN ANTONIO -- The Texas Lutheran Women's and Men's Cross Country squads opened the 2019 seasons Friday at the 2019 UIW Opener at the Classic Elites Soccer Complex.
 
Racing against five NCAA Division I programs, the Bulldog Women took seventh out of eight teams. TLU scored 195 points.
 
Also competing against five NCAA Division I programs, the Bulldog Men took the eighth spot in the team standings. The Bulldogs competed with a shortened-roster of five student-athletes.
 
"This meet was a good opener for us," said Darlene Holland, TLU's head coach for women's and men's cross country. "It gave us an idea of where we sit right now and which areas need work."
 
Women's team senior Kylee Garcia finished 14th overall with a time of 15 minutes, 51.2 seconds over the 4,000-meter course.
 
"Kylee had a breakthrough race to kick things off and finishing in the top 15 at a mainly D1-laden race is impressive," said Holland. "Once Ashley (Rynard) returns to full strength, she'll be right up there too." 

"Our trio of freshmen (Gabrielle GonzalesJulia Maciel, and Mackenzie Payne) are working hard each day, and I expect big things from them as we progress this season. You put Hannah (Martinez) and Ciara (Rodriguez) in the mix later this season, and we will have a tough group."
 
Freshman Israel Olivarez led the Bulldog Men with a 6K time of 22:45.60. The next three Bulldogs - Christopher Torres, Juan Moreno and Hector Hornedo - each posted times under 24 minutes.
 
"For our opener we just ran five of our guys as a workout," said Holland. "They can use a little work on actually running together, but they ran the pace I asked of them. We will be testing their actual fitness level in two weeks when we head to Old Settlers Park for the meet UT (University of Texas) is hosting on September 13."