Mean Green Head to AAC Cross Country Championships

DENTON, Texas – Postseason competition begins for the UNT cross country teams Friday afternoon with the American Athletic Conference Championships at the Clapp Cross Country Course in Wichita, Kansas.

The Mean Green were originally supposed to run on Saturday morning, but the meet was rescheduled earlier this week due to severe weather expected in the area. The women's 6K will be contested first beginning at 4:05 p.m. CT followed by the men's 8K at 4:50 p.m. CT.

"I'm excited about it," head coach Erik Stevens said. "I think everything has been timed out well for us. We had one of the best meets during my time here at Texas A&M and I think our athletes are riding that wave and have some confidence heading into this meet."

UNT's momentum stems from stellar performances from both teams at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Oct. 18. Ximena Lopez de Escalera and Victor Neiva posted the second-fastest times in program history in the 6K and 8K, respectively, while Betty Bajika, London Culbreath, Trinity Trotter, Connor Bartek and Iain Salter all made their marks on the program record books at the meet.

However, the Mean Green will have their work cut out for them at the conference championship, especially on the men's side where they will go head-to-head with Tulane and Tulsa who are receiving votes in the USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll and ranked in the top five of their respective regions.

Neiva will lead the men's team into the race with his sights set on becoming the program's third male to earn four career all-conference honors. Neiva clocked a school record 23:19.6 to finish in 12^th place at last season's meet before going on to earn all-region honors and a berth to the NCAA Championships.

Bartek, Salter and Matthew Norton will be among the supporting cast looking to push North Texas up the team standings on the men's side.

For the ladies, Lopez de Escalera has consistently led the team over the last few meets and will look to continue that trend Friday. The top four runners from the Arturo Barrios will be joined by Tiblets Abreha, Aditi Silwal, Brenna Zerby, Amy Pritchard and freshmen Destiny Hernandez and Ella Bengtsson.

"We've been putting in work for a long time to get to this week that we've been waiting for," Stevens said. "It's been the goal of every single person on this trip to finish as high as we can in the conference. We want to go out there and put ourselves in the best position possible to come home with a conference title. It's going to take a gritty performance."

Friday's meet will be streamed on ESPN+ with live results provided by Red Dirt Race Management.

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Players Mentioned

Tiblets Abreha

Betty Bajika

Connor Bartek

Ella Bengtsson

London Culbreath

Destiny Hernandez

Ximena Lopez de Escalera

Victor Neiva

Matthew Norton

Amy Pritchard

Iain Salter

Aditi Silwal

Trinity Trotter

Brenna Zerby

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