Women’s Cross Country

The Lions women’s cross country team have captured a third and second place in their first two meets of the season with freshman Noelle Ortiz taking a second place in each race.

Four Lions finished the Fourth Annual Lois Davis Invitational in Magnolia, Ark. in the top ten including 3. Ortiz (18:42), 6. Caroline Cotsakis (19:19), 8. Mary Hammonds (19:24), 10. Kelsey Grier (19:39).

Other Lion finishers were 11. Tori Lenz-Selvera (19:46), 16. Mackenzie Myers (20:11), 20. Katia Romero (20:26), 41. Brooke Farris (22:13).

Lady Lions Win Ram Rumble

Seven A&M-Commerce runners finished in the top ten, led by Ortiz in second place, to dominate the Texas Wesleyan Ram Rumble.

Ortiz came in at (19:33), followed by 3. Lenz-Selvera (19:37), 4. Cotsakis (20:07), 5. Grier (20:16), 6. Myers (20:21), 7. Farris (21:01) and 8. Romero (21:14).

Men’s Cross Country

Dorian McCradic took first in the opening cross country meet in Arkansas with Luis Romero finishing second. Both placed again the next week in Fort Worth to lead the Lions to an unbeaten mark for the season.

McCradic (25:04) and Romero (25:09) led the field at the Fourth Annual Lois Davis Invitational at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. The Lions finished first out of seven teams in the college division and won the meet for the fourth year in a row.

Five A&M-Commerce runners finished in the top ten including, following McCradic and Romero, 7. Scout Hale (26:12), 8. Mark Gonzalez (26:14) and 9. Fredrick Kipsang (26:24).

Rounding out the Lion finishers were 13. Hunter Hawkins (26:34), 14. Turner Pool (26:48), 17. Ryan Kallenbach (27:08), 21. Matt Rodell (27:25), 23. Albert Maxwell (27:35), 24. Andrew Cobos (27:40) and 28. Artemio Pagan (27:57).

Lions Win Ram Rumble

Romero’s 15:27 was strong enough for a second place in the 5-team Texas Wesleyan Ram Rumble in Fort Worth. Romero was seven seconds behind the first place runner.

Romero and four other Lions were in the top ten including 4. Hale (16:07), 5. Kipsang (16:12), 6. Gonzalez (16:14) and 7. Hawkins (16:15).

Other finishes for the Lions were 11. Maxwell (16:45), 12. Pool (16:47), 13. Cobos (16:51), 14. Kallenbach (16:52), 16. Rodell (17:06) and 19. Pagan (17:11).

Chile Pepper Festival

The Lions were among 80 college teams at the 2014 Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Chile Pepper festival is one of the premiere running events in the nation. Each year more than 80 college teams and 120 high school teams are joined by 750 individual participants at the University of Arkansas off-road course.

This year the Lions Men’s Cross Country team placed 7 out of 27 teams, led by Luis Romero placing 35 with (24:55.9).

The Women’s Cross Country team came in 8 out of 25 teams, led by Ortiz who placed 116 with a time of (18:34.1).

The Lion’s next meet will be the EC Tiger Chase Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 25, 9:30 a.m. (W) and 10:10 a.m. (M) in Ada, Okla.