Friday, November 15
College Station, Texas
9 AM
University of North Texas
vs
NCAA South Central Regional
Neiva Places 18th at South Central Regional to Earn Fourth Career All-Region Honor
11/15/2024 11:06:00 AM | Track & Field/XC
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Victor Neiva collected his fourth consecutive all-region finish to lead the UNT cross country teams at the NCAA South Central Regional Friday morning at the Watts Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas.
Despite posting the second-best time in program history in the 10,000 meters at 29:58.0, his 18th-place finish was not enough to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season. Known to be an extremely fast course, the top 20 finishers broke the course record in the 10K on Friday.
Neiva's four career all-region honors is the most by a UNT runner in program history, passing Florian Lussy who collected three from 2016 to 2019.
"I thought his effort was solid," head coach Erik Stevens said. "He put himself into the fight as he normally does. I think the field this year was just a little bit stronger than it has been in past years, and we slipped just a little bit as the race got into the latter stages and he couldn't really make a push at that point."
The Mean Green men came in 12th place as a team with 316 points, matching their finish from last season at the meet. Connor Bartek finished second of the UNT runners, clocking a personal best time of 31:09.9 to place 47th. True freshmen Nolan House and Joseph Wienen placed 73rd and 93rd, respectively, before Iain Salter rounded out the UNT scorers in 98th place.
The women's team was led by Betty Bajika's 33rd-place finish, which was the highest placing by a UNT female at the regional meet since Rea Iseli in 2018. The 14th-place finish in the team standings for the ladies also matched the highest finish in the region since the 2018 squad despite missing all-conference performer Ximena Lopez de Escalera who was unable to compete due to injury.
Bajika's time of 20:33.4 marks the fourth fastest 6K in program history and is a personal best. London Culbreath followed Bajika with a time of 21:13.9 to claim the No. 14 spot on the all-time 6K list, which gives this season's team seven of the top 15 times in the 6,000 meters in program history.
Trinity Trotter, Destiny Hernandez, Tiblets Abreha and Amy Pritchard stepped up in the absence of Lopez de Escalera to bring the team total to 449 points.
"I thought the ladies being down our one or two spot depending on how you look at ran very well," Stevens said. "I'm very proud of their effort today."
Despite posting the second-best time in program history in the 10,000 meters at 29:58.0, his 18th-place finish was not enough to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season. Known to be an extremely fast course, the top 20 finishers broke the course record in the 10K on Friday.
Neiva's four career all-region honors is the most by a UNT runner in program history, passing Florian Lussy who collected three from 2016 to 2019.
"I thought his effort was solid," head coach Erik Stevens said. "He put himself into the fight as he normally does. I think the field this year was just a little bit stronger than it has been in past years, and we slipped just a little bit as the race got into the latter stages and he couldn't really make a push at that point."
The Mean Green men came in 12th place as a team with 316 points, matching their finish from last season at the meet. Connor Bartek finished second of the UNT runners, clocking a personal best time of 31:09.9 to place 47th. True freshmen Nolan House and Joseph Wienen placed 73rd and 93rd, respectively, before Iain Salter rounded out the UNT scorers in 98th place.
The women's team was led by Betty Bajika's 33rd-place finish, which was the highest placing by a UNT female at the regional meet since Rea Iseli in 2018. The 14th-place finish in the team standings for the ladies also matched the highest finish in the region since the 2018 squad despite missing all-conference performer Ximena Lopez de Escalera who was unable to compete due to injury.
Bajika's time of 20:33.4 marks the fourth fastest 6K in program history and is a personal best. London Culbreath followed Bajika with a time of 21:13.9 to claim the No. 14 spot on the all-time 6K list, which gives this season's team seven of the top 15 times in the 6,000 meters in program history.
Trinity Trotter, Destiny Hernandez, Tiblets Abreha and Amy Pritchard stepped up in the absence of Lopez de Escalera to bring the team total to 449 points.
"I thought the ladies being down our one or two spot depending on how you look at ran very well," Stevens said. "I'm very proud of their effort today."
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