Houston cross country teams competed to each clinch ninth-place finishes in the NCAA South Central Regional at the Watts Cross Country Course in College Station on Friday. These finishes marked the first time both men’s and women’s teams finished top-10 in the regionals since 2002.
Houston’s women’s 6k efforts were led by junior Cadence Parker, who finished 39th with a time of 20:39.7, followed by Junior Addison Hite finishing in 54th place at 20:52.5.
Finishing 11 spots later at 65th was sophomore Sophia Nguyen at 21:09.3, followed by junior AnnClaire Cop in 73rd place at 21:19.3.
Junior Liliana Campos finished 83rd at 21:28.6 while junior Julia Shimel took 87th place at 21:29.4. Sophomore Olivia Brillhart rounded out the morning for the Cougars by finishing 95th at 21:41.0.
In the Cougars’ men’s 10k efforts, senior Henok Hagos set the tempo by finishing in 15th place with a time of 30:13.1 and earning All-Region honors in the process.
Hagos is the first Cougar to achieve the accolade since Brandon Seagraves in 2022, as well as the program’s first to finish in the top-15 since 2017, when Brian Barraza accomplished the feat.
Senior David Soto followed, finishing 33rd at 30:51.3. Freshman Ryder Darcey finished in 54th place at 31:29.2, with junior Remay Abraha not far behind in 58th at 31:32.9.
Junior Caden Thurman rounded out the morning meet for the Cougars at 111th with a time of 33:04.6.
Arkansas’ women’s team and Tulane’s men’s team each won their titles at the regional and earned automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships.
