Razorbacks claim team title in Arturo Barrios Invitational

COLLEGE STATION – No. 26 Arkansas secured a team victory at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on a very windy Friday morning with a strong finish by the squad on the final portion of the 6,000m race held on the Watts course.

Scoring 101 points placed the Razorbacks [2-13-16-21-49] ahead of Eastern Kentucky (122) [1-3-7-48-63], Tulane (136), San Francisco (158), Adams State (193), Stephen F. Austin (215), Texas A&M (230), LSU (260), Tulsa (288), and Cal Poly (369) among a field of 49 teams.

“It was a great effort by the ladies today,” stated Arkansas women’s cross country coach Marc Burns. “I’m really proud with how they battled. We got buried a little bit in that five spot with Jayden and Marissa early in the race. But they battled throughout the race.

“Isca did a great job kind of controlling the race up front. She had to battle back to get second, so that was really good. Paityn and Braelyn did a great job running together while Emma was on and off of them the whole race, but she never let go of the rope. It was a really good battle for all of those women and I was really impressed.”

Isca Chelangat finished as runner-up in the race with a time of 18:46.1 as Eastern Kentucky’s Edna Chelulei won the race in 18:42.2 while teammate Brighter Jepchumba placed third in 18:47.6.

Paityn Noe placed 13th as the second Razorback, covering the course in 19:40.5, while Braelyn Combe clocked 19:45.4 in placing 16th as the second best freshman in the field behind Jepchumba. Another Arkansas freshman, Emma Chepngetich, placed 21st with a time of 19:56.3 in her first venture over 6k and was the third best freshman in the field.

At the 5k split, Eastern Kentucky (1-3-9-23-61) led the field with 97 points while Arkansas (2-13-16-22-67) was in the runner-up position with 120 while Tulane (10-14-35-36-39) was third at 134. The top four Razorbacks maintained their scoring position over the final 1k while Jayden Hill improved from 67th to 49th after being 73rd at 4k, 90th at 3k, and 121st at 2k.

“Jayden literally went from 121st to 51st, so she passed 70 people,” noted Burns. “That’s incredible. When we get our 5-6-7 runners out in the right spot I really think we’re going to be dangerous as a team.

“We cut it pretty close here, we were chasing the whole way. They never panicked, they just kept passing people. I like being a second half team and we were second half racers today which is one of the things we talked about on this course. They showed a lot of fight and I really like to see that as a coach and I’m really proud of them.”

Hill ran 20:29.4 to finish fifth among the Razorbacks as she placed 51st and scored 49 team points in adjusted scoring. Marissa Ferebee placed 77th in 20:52.0 while Olivia Pielemeier completed the course in 21:46.1 to finish 191st. There were 403 finishers in the women’s race.

Arkansas competes in the SEC Championships on Friday, October 30, held on Missouri’s Gans Creek course. Then the Razorbacks return to Texas A&M’s Watts course on Friday, November 13, for the NCAA South Central Region meet.