Men’s, women’s cross country finishes 3rd, 4th at Big 12 Championships

Elijah Garcia, General Sports Reporter

Texas men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock on Friday, where the men earned a third-place finish and the women landed in fourth place.

Oklahoma State swept the championships, taking home the titles in both the men’s and women’s competitions. 

The No. 23-ranked men’s cross country team finished the men’s 8k in third place with 59 points, just two points shy of second place. Sophomore top finisher Issac Alonzo led the team with a 3rd overall finish and a time of 24:13.2. 


Junior Haftu Knight finished in 8th with 24:28.4, and sophomore Rodger Rivera also cracked the top 10 with a 10th place finish at 24:31.2.

Finishing in the top 15 of the race earned Alonzo, Knight and Rivera the honor of being named to the All-Big 12 Team. 

The Longhorns’ fourth and fifth finishers came in freshman Nathanael Berhane with a 19th place finish and senior Cruz Gomez in 23rd.

Texas rounded out its scoring with sophomore Abraham Avila-Martinez and freshman Emmanuel Sgouros. The pair finished back-to-back in 31st and 32nd with times of 25:32.7 and 25.34.2, respectively.

For the women’s team, graduate student Monica Hebner led the team to a fourth-place finish in the women’s 6k with 130 points. Hebner finished in 20th place with a time of 21:41.8.

Junior Beth Ramos finished right behind in 22nd with a time of 21:43.7. Ramos previously had an eight-race streak of being Texas’ top finisher.

The rest of Texas’ top five finishers consisted of graduate student Valery Tobias, sophomore Eva Jess and junior Kelsie Vicknair. They finished in 26th, 32nd and 37th with times of 21:57.2, 22:11.0 and 22:23.1, respectively.

Senior Alyssa Duhart, with a time of 22:52.2, and sophomore Allyson Little, with a time of 22:55.5, wrapped up for the women’s team. 

Having completed the biggest conference race on the schedule, Texas’ next chance to compete will come at the NCAA Cross Country Regionals and Championships in mid-November.