Texas men’s cross country was back in action last Friday, competing in a four-miler at the University of Incarnate Word Invitational in San Antonio. 

After having four top-five finishers in the Stormy Seas Opener, the Longhorns were looking to build upon their opening week results.

Freshman Aidan Torres was coming off an impressive Longhorn debut in the Stormy Seas Open, posting a second-place finish with a time of 15:12:50. 

This time was the best out of the Longhorns who competed. Torres posted a time of 19:15:40 seconds with a 9:34 split for his second loop at the UIW Invitational. 

Only five seconds behind Torres, senior Nathanael Berhane made his season debut on Friday, finishing in third with a time of 19:20:0. Before Friday’s meet, Berhane had never participated in a four-miler and posted the same 9:41 first loop time as Torres, slightly falling behind him as both Longhorns crossed the finish line. 

Friday’s meet didn’t go without having some miscues for the Longhorns. After some misdirection on the course, junior Hudson Bennett, senior Hudson Heikkinen and graduate Trey Rios had to run an extra loop due to the error. Despite this misstep, the Longhorns still had all seven runners post top-50 finishes.

The team just missed out on helping the program complete the sweep, as it finished second overall, with 67 points behind host Incarnate Word’s 34 and ahead of Texas State’s 110.

Next up for the Longhorns is the Chile Pepper Invitational hosted by the defending Southeastern Conference champions, the Arkansas Razorbacks, on Oct. 4. The Longhorns finished seventh during last year’s conference championship, and this could be an early indicator of how the Longhorns hold up against a stellar Razorback program.