Oct. 4, 2008

AUBURN, Ala. - The Lamar University women's cross country team placed 16th out of 23 teams and the men notched a 22nd place finish at the Tiger Invitational at Indian Pines Golf Course.

The Cardinals women were led by Sandy Castro who covered the 5K course in a time of 18:29.22 for a 95th place finish. Stacey Monteau was the second LU runner to cross the line, finishing in a time of 18:41.31 for a 107th place finish.

Emily Carpenter, who ran a time of 18:58.92 placed 124th and Taylor Cloy finished the race in a time of 19:15.45 for a 141st place finish. Lamar tennis standout Maria Gutierrez was the next Lady Card to finish the race, placing 149th in a time of 19:30.69, Daisy Cantu was 153rd in a time of 19:37.15 and Mercy Bungei was 161st in a time of 19:54.27. The other LU tennis star competing in the meet, Mariaryeni Gutierrez, finished 200th in a time of 23:11.56 to round out the Lamar roster.

On a split weekend, the Lamar men finished 22nd out of 24 teams. The depth of the LU men's program allowed them to run in two meets this weekend, with the other half of the team running at Notre Dame and finishing 12th on Friday afternoon.

Ewan Simpson was the first LU runner to cross the finish line for the men in the 8K course, placing 145th in a time of 26:19.28 while Ryan Kelly was 176th in a time of 27:10.17. Jess Williams finished 185th in 27:28.70, Austin Malek was 188th in 27:28.27 and Aaron Malek finished in 28:46.32.

The Lamar cross country teams will be back in action on Oct. 18 when the run at the Chili Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.