SCAC CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW: Men's Cross Country Eyeing Improvement at Conference With Young Talent
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Dallas men's cross country team will compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championships on Saturday, November 2nd at Widick Field hosted by Colorado College. The meet is set to start at 10:00 a.m. (MST). Dallas finished sixth last year at the conference championship race at Schreiner University.
This meet will mark the third 8k race for the Crusaders. Dallas finished sixth at the ETBU Tiger Invitational on October 11th and ninth at the Bill Libby Invite on October 19th. Overall the conference championships will be the seventh overall competition for UD.
2019 SCAC Cross Country Championships Tournament Central
1st year head coach Nick Schneigert has seen his team compete well as of late having several Personal Records (PR's) in the last two races. At the Bill Libby Invite freshmen Stephen Brennan (Tulsa, Okla.) and Caleb Clayton (Kerrville, Texas) both had season-best meets with times of 32:03.5 and 32:55.8, respectively. John James (Metairie, La.) ran his first 8k of the year in that same race finishing 27th with a time of 28:28.9.
Thomas Lagarde (Linden, Va.) has paced the Crusaders in every meet this season. Lagarde finished second in the opening meet of the season in the 2 mile run (11:04.9) hosted by Austin College in August. The next race he finished 8th at the UTD Cross Country Invite (5k) on September 14th. He later grabbed third at the home meet in the last 5k of the season. In his only 8k competition of 2019 Lagarde placed 24th (28:28.9) at the Bill Libby Invitational. Besides the one meet he missed, he has led Dallas in every race so far.
Other notable runners for UD have been Andrew Maal (Pueblo West, Colo.) who finished third at the ETBU Tiger Invitational and second at the Muthama-Rogers Invite among the Dallas runners. Nick Wallisch (St. Paul, Minn.) secured a top-ten finish at the Croosader Dual Meet against Austin College in the 2 mile race. Peter Hedlesky (Florissant, Mo.) and Gabe Vazquez (Clive, Iowa) both ran their fastest times in the University of Dallas Invitational (5k) race this year on October 5th.
UP NEXT
Dallas will compete at the USCAA National Championship race (8k) in Virginia Beach, Virginia on November 9th.