Cross Country Places Fourth, Fifth At Season Opener
9/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Cross Country saw three Frogs finish in the top-20 to open the season at the Bear Twilight Invitational in Waco on Tuesday.
"I think the women ran well and really put themselves in it from the start," said coach Jennifer Fazioli. "They came to compete, and that's good to see this early in the season."
Sophomore Anna Cozart recorded a team-best time of 14:24.4 in the women's 4,000 meters, placing 11th out of 71. Cozart improved on last year's time in Waco by more than 44 seconds.
Sophomore Nicole Hicks finished 17th, securing the team's second-best time (14:40.7). Last year, Hicks completed the 4,000-meter race with a time of 15:13.6, improving by nearly 33 seconds.
"Both Anna [Cozart] and Nicole [Hicks] really put in some good work over the summer, and it is starting to pay off for them," said Fazioli. "I was also pleased with Maddie Weinstock who has only had one year of XC under her belt in high school."
Bailey Sullivan and Madison Weinstock missed the top-20 by less than 10 seconds, finishing 21st and 22nd, respectively.
Freshman Elizabeth Baker started her collegiate career strong -- finishing in 15:05.0 to grab 25th place. The other freshmen were not far behind in their debut in Waco. Emily Suarez (31st, 15:15.6), Erin Barth (34th, 15:17.0) and Emily Alton (40th, 15:25.9) also began the season solid.
In the men's 6,000 meters, sophomore Matthew Brown led the Horned Frog pack, finishing 16th out of 50 (19:20.9). Continuing the improvement trend, Brown also upgraded his time from last year by knocking off more than three minutes.
Sophomore Dylan Larkin crossed the finish line second for TCU. Larkin placed 27th with a time of 19:41.0, seeing an improvement from last year of more than 35 seconds.
Sophomore Dillon Smith almost broke the top-30 for his second consecutive year in Waco, achieving 32nd place (20:03.3).
"There is much to work on with the men, and we will get better as long as they trust the process and come prepared to race," said Fazioli. "The men have looked solid in training so now it is just a matter of translating that to the race course."
As a team, the women finished fourth, while the men's team placed fifth. TCU's next cross country event will be at the UNT Invite on Sept. 12.
Players Mentioned
