LUBBOCK – The Tarleton cross country teams competed well at the Texas Tech Open Friday night, with the TexAnns pulling off a 5^th place team finish and the men claiming a 6^th place team finish.
 
“This certainly wasn't our best performance, but we're not pressing the panic button yet,” said Tarleton head coach Pat Ponder. “This was a good test for us to see where we are at as a team, both for the girls and guys. It was a wake-up call and now we need to respond to that call.
 
“For us to get better, we have to start running in packs better,” he continued. “When you start to break down the results, the best teams run together.”
 
For the women, freshman Katelin Huckabee led the team with an 11^th place finish in a time of 19:58.34.
 
“I'm very proud of Katelin for leading the pack,” said Ponder. “It's really not surprising because of how hard she's worked over the past two weeks and that hard work paid off.”
 
Celeste Meyer (20:41.91) and Karen Ramming (21:04.78) finished 24^th and 28^th, respectively, while Payton Shoush (21:33.03) and Kyndall Trnka (21:38.38) claimed 42^nd and 43^rd place, respectively.
 
Ashley Husbands finished 51^st with a time of 22:09.66 and Lauren Finley rounded out the TexAnn runners in 53^rd place with a time of 22:12.75.
 
In the nightcap, the men competed and Miles Joslin led a youthful group of Texans to a sixth place finish in 19^th place with a time of 27:04.28.
 
“Today's showing was a youthful one because 90-percent of our runners were freshmen,” said Ponder. “It gave me an opportunity to see where we're at. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm proud of Miles for taking this leadership role.”
 
A trio of freshmen came in behind Joslin in the order of Dylan Willet (27:19.31) in 25^th, Jeffrey Currie (27:58.69) in 39^th, and James Polasek (28:22.69) in 52^nd place.
 
Brian Cooper finished 69^th with a time of 29:22.06 while Thorne Pettigrew (29:35.06), Mason Wrobel (30:40.34) and Stefan Campos (31:31.09) rounded out the Texan runners in 72^nd, 84^th and 89^th place, respectively.
 
Tarleton will return to action September 29 at the University of Texas.