Texas will end its three-week hiatus this weekend in San Antonio, returning to the UTSA Ricardo Romo Classic after flattening the competition last season.

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will be putting their best runners in, with senior All-American Craig Lutz returning for the No. 23 men’s team and sophomore Arkansas transfer Sandie Raines looking to start her career on the right foot for the women after sitting the first meet out.

Assistant coach Brad Herbster is making sure his runners see this meet as an important stepping stone to future competition.

“With this UTSA meet, we are going to try to do our own thing and focus on what we want to accomplish down the road,” Herbster said. “We’re not going to set the world afire this week, but we will work on a few things and focus on improving for our big races later in the season. … The next race is where we really want to make a statement.”

This 5,000-meter race comes as preparation for some of the largest races of the season, like the Roy Griak Invitational, which will be hosted in Minnesota next weekend.

That invitational promises huge competition for the Longhorns, bringing in some of the strongest national teams in both the college and high school ranks.

Before that, though, the first step is down in San Antonio, and Texas wants to win. 

“Because the men are ranked 23rd in the nation, we want to make some kind of statement this week,” Herbster said.