The countdown to the Big 12 Cross Country Championships is on. With t-minus 14 days until the postseason, the Texas women’s cross country team competed in its final regular-season meet of the season at the FSU Cross Country Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Longhorns competed against 35 other teams in the pre-nationals meet at the Apalachee Regional Park. The open 6K race allowed for the women to find their stride in team dynamics as they finished second place overall with 122 points.

Senior Beth Ramos finished first for the Longhorns for the third time this season, earning a Top 15 finish coming in at 14th with a time of 21:28.1. Freshman Eva Jess followed closely behind with a 19-second personal best time of 21:43.3 and a 22nd place finish. The true freshman from El Paso, Texas, continues to show meet after meet how competitive of a runner she is.

Coming in less than half a second behind Jess was sophomore Alexa Rodriguez in 27th place. She shaved 34 seconds off her previous 6K time at 21:43.6.

Senior Monica Hebner completed the race with a time of 22:08.2, followed closely behind by her sister Isabel Hebner who clocked in at 22:12.7. Sophomore Maddie Hatfield claimed a Top 7 Texas finish at a time of 22:21.7 and sophomore Kelsie Vicknair finished in 22:34.8.

The FSU Invitational is one of the first nationwide meets not to have been pushed back due to the pandemic. Last year, the runners didn’t have the ability to compete in large-scale meets such as this before national competitions.

This year, Texas has gotten in a fair share of warmups before the Big 12 Championship Meet on Oct. 29 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.