Bears take team title in Texas

10/1/2022 12:54:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Mpigachai leads UNC women with individual crown

By: By Jason Dormeyer

SAN ANTONIO—With the individual champion and all five scorers inside the top 11, the Northern Colorado women's cross country team dominated action at the Incarnate Word Invitational on Saturday morning.

Led by a top overall finish from Regina Mpigachai, the Bears scored a meet-low 29 points to top the hosting squad from the University of Incarnate Word by 17 points.

"The women were amazing today," UNC head coach Wayne Angel said. "They beat a very good University of Incarnate team at home and in the process won their first team competition since 2012. I'm very excited about the momentum that we have established as a team at this point."

With a winning time of 20 minutes, 15.8 seconds, Mpigachai ran unchallenged throughout the 6,000-meter tour of Live Oak City Park. More than 30 0seconds back, Incarnate Word's Joy Gill took runner-up honors with a 20:49.3.

"I am so excited about the team's performance today, we raced very hard and came away with the win. I was also very excited to win today as I wanted to win for Coach Angel and for my late coach Ron Davis from Tanzania," Mpigachai said.

Three additional UNC runners cracked the top 10 with Chloe Rylance (4th, 22:19.6), Summer Olson (6th, 22:36.7) and Julia Brown (7th, 22:47.6) all finishing within 30 seconds of each other. UNC's fifth and final scorer, Shantell Hafner, missed the top 10 by a single spot with a 22:57.7.

"Regina ran a thrilling race against the hometown favorite. Chloe, Shantell, Summer and Julia all ran personal bests which was truly the icing on the cake," Angel added.

Jesse Hayward nearly made it an individual sweep for UNC after posting a 25:00.9 in the men's 8,000-meter race. Hayward took second place overall out of more than 125 competitors and was only bested by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Enock Kimutai, who turned in a 24:29.9 for medalist honors.

In 26:09.2 for 26th place, Isaac Rascon raced to a personal record while Colton Magnuson flirted with a sub-27 after crossing the line at 27:19.0.

"Coach Angel has preached patience this season. He has told me to race within myself and work my way up during the race as it unfolds," Hayward said. "Today I feel that I accomplished that and held my way to a second-place finish. Although the time is still a bit behind what I would like this season, I feel like I raced very well today, and showed what being a Bear means being a competitor."

UIW Invitational
Incarnate Word
San Antonio, Texas
Oct. 1, 2022

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES: 1. Northern Colorado, 29; 2. Incarnate Word, 46; 3. UTSA, 88; 4. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 107; 5. UTRGV, 125; 6. McMurry,166; 7. Texas A&M-International, 181; 8. Trinity, 193; 9. Our Lady of the Lake, 227; 10. Texas Lutheran, 283; 11. Mary Hardin-Baylor, 313; 12. St. Thomas, 332; 13. Dallas, 435; 14. Sul Ross State, 438.

UNC WOMEN'S RESULTS: 1. Regina Mpigachai, 20:15.8; 4. Chloe Rylance, 22:19.6; 6. Summer Olson, 22:36.7; 7. Julia Brown, 22:47.6; 11. Shantell Hafner, 22:57.7; 42. Emily Beckner, 24:56.0; 43. Natasha Perales, 24:57.8; 61. Delaney Kemp, 25:37.5.

UNC MEN'S RESULTS: 2. Jesse Hayward, 25:00.9; 26. Isaac Rascon, 26:09.2; 58. Colton Magnuson, 27:19.0; 93. Hunter Kenney, 29:18.5.