Cross country

Texas swept the competition for the second consecutive time on Friday night at the UTSA Ricardo Romo Classic.

Both the men’s and women’s teams boasted first-place finishes in their races, along with a handful of runners cracking the top 10. 

In the men’s 5,000-meter race, it was sophomore Robert Uhr who led the pack to the finish, followed by freshmen Jacob Pickle and Zach Hamstra, creating a 1-2-3 finish for the team. 

On the women’s end, Arkansas transfer Sandie Raines lived up to her reputation, finishing five seconds ahead of the second-place runner to win an individual title and position the squad well for a team victory. Freshman Samantha Young, sophomore Mary Beth Hamilton, freshman Kendra Melendez and junior Marissa Pekarek finished fourth through seventh, respectively, to round out the scoring for the women.

Texas’ underclassmen dominated the race, which is a good sign for the difficult stretch of the season approaching.

“We really controlled the race with confidence,” said Brad Herbster, assistant coach for distance and cross country. “The men and women both got out front and took control of the race early, which was nice to see. Now we get into what I call the regular season next week. All the races from here on are important, and we have got to continue to perform well like we did today.”

The “regular season” commences this weekend in Minnesota at the Roy Griak Invitational, the first race that will pit the nation’s top-ranked teams against the Longhorns. The matchup will give a more accurate litmus test than this weekend’s race as to how the team will fare in the rest of the season’s more competitive races.

Men's tennis

The men’s tennis team split its squad between events in Louisiana and California over the weekend and racked up 14 wins.

Sophomore George Goldhoff, senior Adrien Berkowicz, freshman John Mee and junior Michael Riechmann represented the Longhorns at the Cajun Tennis Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana, while seniors Søren Hess-Olesen, Lloyd Glasspool, Jacoby Lewis and junior Nick Naumann competed in the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic in St. Helena, California. 

The team started off strong in Lafayette with Mee upsetting No. 57 sophomore Jordan Daigle of LSU (6-3, 7-6) and Goldhoff defeating TCU senior Will Stein in three sets (6-3, 6-7, 6-1). In the quarterfinals, Mee defeated Oklahoma State sophomore Lucas Gerch (6-4, 6-4), but Goldhoff, Riechmann and Berkowicz landed in the consolation round. Goldhoff advanced furthest in the consolation bracket, defeating Daigle (6-4, 6-4) and LSU junior Tam Trinh (6-1, retired) to set up a rematch against Stein in the finals. Stein advanced in a walkover.

In doubles play, Berkowicz and Goldhoff fell 8-6 to the Louisiana-Lafayette duo of redshirt senior Damian Farinola and junior Edgar Lopez. Mee and Riechmann picked up two wins before falling to LSU’s junior tandem of Andrew Korinek and Trinh, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (6-4), in the semifinals.

In St. Helena, the Longhorns struggled throughout, as all four Longhorns dropped their initial sets.

Two-time all-American Hess-Olesen, who advanced to the finals of the 2012 Napa Valley Classic, broke the losing streak with a win over No. 63 senior John Morrissey of Stanford (6-1, 6-3). 

No. 5 Hess-Olesen then downed No. 23 freshman Ronnie Schneider of North Carolina (6-1, 6-2) to advance to the shootout round, but freshman Sebastian Beltrame of Harvard cut Hess-Olesen’s run short with a 1-0 match. 

The Longhorns found more success in doubles play against Stanford as Hess-Olesen and Naumann defeated the duo of junior Maciek Ranowicz and Morrissey 8-5.

The Longhorns return to action next weekend at the ITA All-American Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.