Cross Country Opens Abbreviated Season Friday

The North Texas cross country team will begin its shortened 2020 season Friday as the Mean Green travel to the UTA Invitational.

The competition will be held at Jesse Owens Memorial Athletic Complex in Dallas (9191 South Polk St.). The women's 2-mile meet is slated to begin at 6 p.m., while the men's 4-mile race is set to commence at 6:30 p.m. North Texas will compete against the Mavericks along with TCU, Texas State and Little Rock. Spectators are permitted to attend the outdoor meet, but masks must be worn at all times with social-distancing measures in place.

The Mean Green are also scheduled to run at the Cowboy Jamboree at Oklahoma State October 3. The Conference USA Championships will take place October 31 at UAB.

Following a 2019 season stacked with youth, UNT will look to improve upon last year for both the men and women.

"I think both the men and the women will be much improved. We were really young last year, and it showed," head coach Kevin Williams said.

The men finished sixth and the women seventh at the 2019 C-USA Championships.

The men are a season removed from earning the 2018 Conference USA Men's Championship title and will now have to replace Florian Lussy, the first runner in program history to qualify twice for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

"For the men, we plug in four athletes that redshirted last fall including All-Conference runners Alec Esposito and Jack Beaumont," Williams said. "It is crazy to say that Beaumont and Matthew Morgan are already seniors, but they both do a wonderful job of keeping the team motivated and together."

"On the women's side, we return a lot of our depth. Most of the team was new last year, so I am excited to see what they can do with more experience. We will be leaning on our lone senior Gwyneth Garcia.

"We have a much smaller incoming class than last year, but I think they can all make a quick impact. We add one athlete on the women's side, Audrey Springer, a transfer from OU, which will really help our depth.

"On the men's side, we have three newcomers: Victor Neiva (Keller Central), Luke Canon (Keller High) and David Aguilar (College Park). They all were having great seasons before the shutdown. I am excited to add some mid-distance balance to the team," Williams said.

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Players Mentioned

David Aguilar

Jack Beaumont

Luke Canon

Alec Esposito

Gwyneth Garcia

Florian Lussy

Matthew Morgan

Victor Neiva

Audrey Springer

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