Neiva, Zerby Pace Mean Green XC at Texas A&M

DENTON, Texas – Victor Neiva placed seventh in the men's 8K, and Brenna Zerby finished 27^th in the women's 5K to lead North Texas cross country Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational in Bryan-College Station.

"It was solid competition," North Texas cross country coach Erik Stevens said. "Being able to go up against the likes of Texas A&M gives us a really good benchmark to go up against and see where we're at against the big dogs. I was excited about that, and the course conditions were good."

Neiva recorded a time of 24:35.8, just outside of the top-five, to place seventh at Watts Cross Country Course. Nick Rodriguez finished 37^th with a time of 25:59.6, followed by Cade McAndrew in 41^st (26:06.0), Mason Garner in 47^th (26:21.0) and Luke Canon in 68^th (27:38.2).

"Everything was really solid overall on the men's side," Stevens said. "I think we learned some things. We're going through some growing pains, which is not necessarily a bad thing."

On the women's side, freshman Brenna Zerby placed 27^th with a time of 19:13.0 to lead the way for the Mean Green. Miranda Vreeland was 43^rd with a time of 19:50.0, followed by Tiblets Abreha in 60^th (20:24.4), Kate Hilty in 73^rd (21:01.9), Amy Pritchard in 79^th (21:19.6), Shannon Cook in 82^nd (21:29.2) and Tori Tauch in 90^th (22:58.1).

"Overall on the women's side, it was a much better performance," Stevens said. "I felt in their first 5K, coming off a 4K, I think they were a little concerned, but they managed it well. They were able to work through the normal nerves, and they all seemed to be running well within themselves."

The UNT men's team finished in sixth overall, while the women's team took eighth.

Next up for the Mean Green will be the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 24 in Stillwater, Okla.

"It's basically the pre-nationals meet," Stevens said. "It's a chance for people to get out, preview the course and see what it has to offer. It's not an easy course by any means. It's brutal. It's going to take a big effort to manage that course a little bit differently. And I have to piece it together the right way."

Be sure to keep an eye on MeanGreenSports.com, follow Mean Green Sports on social media @MeanGreenSports and Mean Green track & field/cross country at @MeanGreenTFXC for all of the latest information.

COACH STEVENS POST-MEET QUOTES
Overall thoughts on the meet…
"It was still a pretty low-key meet for early season. It was solid competition, being able to go up against the likes of Texas A&M, which I think is going to be pretty good within the SEC this year. It gives us a really good benchmark to see where we're at against the big dogs. I was excited about that. The course conditions were good."

On the men's team performance…
"Everything was really solid overall on the men's side. I think we learned some things. We're going through some growing pains, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Victor ran very solid again - 24:35 for 8K, first one of the season. And definitely had more to give. I think if we extend that out another 2,000 meters, which we will be at the end of the season, he maybe catches a few of those guys that were in front of him and finishes top-three. He was coming on strong moving into the finish. For him, it seems like the longer the race goes, the better. So I'm really excited about that. The freshmen again stepped up. Cade, being a walk-on, was our number two for the majority of the race. Nick closed that gap and took him over in the final home stretch, but for him to have that kind of confidence coming into both races so far and being a leader of that group of three or four that we're going to need to step up, is pretty big. You don't typically see that from the walk-on freshman, so that's really nice to have. Nick had a really, really solid performance for really a middle distance guy coming out of high school and being recruited as a middle distance guy. He has really taken well to racing those longer distances. He felt that 8K was going to be a challenge for him, but he managed it well. We definitely were able to see where we need to work with the group. I got some good feedback from the way their races shook out and how they executed the plan. I know a little bit more about our strengths, a little bit more about our weaknesses, and I think we can kind of piece it together moving forward a little bit better next time. Moving into next week at OSU, I'm going to try to do just that and let Victor go out and operate and do his thing up front and then try to piece it together a little bit better on pieces 2, 3, 4, 5, and hopefully get a little bit better of a team result overall."

On the women's team performance…
"On the ladies' side, again Brenna kind of mixing it up with the ladies up front and finishing 27th as a freshman against some of those girls in that field was very, very promising. I think it gives her some pretty good confidence going into the rest of the season. I really think that once we get through the bulk of the training and the volume increases, she's going to be pleased with the results that she sees. Like I said after the first meet, she's somebody that you really like to have because she's not afraid to get in the mix and get after something. She executed her race better this time. That was the whole goal of today for her, to execute smoothly through the first two miles and see what that third mile has to offer and what she's able to do. I still felt she did well. We're not even getting to the bulk of the big blocks of training that will really get her to that next level. Overall on the women's side, a much better performance. I felt in their first 5K, coming off a 4K, I think they were a little concerned, but they managed it well. They were able to work through the normal nerves when you approach a start line, but made it look pretty easy, and I was really happy for them. They all seemed to be running well within themselves. I know that we have a lot more left to give. I just have to make sure that we construct everything in a way that I'll be able to translate that from the training efforts to race day. Overall for both groups, we learned a lot of good things today. We also learned where we need to do a little bit of work moving forward."

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Players Mentioned

Tiblets Abreha

Luke Canon

Shannon Cook

Mason Garner

Kate Hilty

Cade McAndrew

Victor Neiva

Amy Pritchard

Nick Rodriguez

Tori Tauch

Miranda Vreeland

Brenna Zerby

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