HOOVER, Ala. – Graduate student
Austin Ballow and junior
Riley Killian paced the Louisiana Tech men's and women's cross country teams at the Conference USA Championships on Saturday at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama.
Ballow, junior
Josiah Perez and redshirt senior
Conner Killian finished back-to-back-to-back, securing finishes of 32
nd (25:52.37), 33
rd (25:56.34) and 34
th (25:58.94) in the men's 8K run. The Bulldogs placed five runners inside the top 45 in the 11-team meet with 71 individual competitors.
"First off, of those three guys up there, Conner went out really hard and paid a little bit of a price for it, but it helped drag our guys ahead," head coach
Gary Stanley said. "It's all about our places, and he helped us get ahead of Marshall.
"
Josiah Perez ran the best conference meet of his life. Everybody came in with a great attitude and competed hard. A lot of people don't realize how good cross country is in this conference, both Charlotte and Middle Tennessee are nationally ranked."
Senior
John Barham (42
nd/26:30.67), junior
William Harrell (44
th/26:33.42), senior
Mason Youberg (54
th/27:01.16) and sophomore
Logan Bailey (70
th/28:56.25) rounded out the Bulldogs' list of competitors.
Perez and
Conner Killian both placed at least 15 spots higher in this year's conference meet than in 2019. Barham rose 24 spots from 66
th in 2019 to 42
nd in Saturday's championship meet in Alabama.
The men's team placed seventh with a team score of 185. Charlotte notched the men's team title with a score of 31. Charlotte's Nickolas Scudder won the individual title with a time of 23:36.28.
Riley Killian finished 45
th to lead the Lady Techsters, running a time of 23:27.29 in the women's 6K race. Killian's finish ranks 11 spots higher than her placement at the 2019 C-USA Championships, which was also a team best for the Lady Techsters.
"Riley ran hard and has battled through some injuries," Stanley said. "I know she's a tad disappointed, but she competed hard and did a good job.
"She didn't quit on herself in this race."
Freshman
Leigh Cox, who made her LA Tech debut on Saturday, finished 73
rd with a time of 24:54.01. Junior
Callie Ezell finished 78
th with a time of 25:41.69.
"
Leigh Cox did an incredible job in her first race," Stanley said. "Callie is an 800-meter runner, and she stretched it out to 6K.
"I'm looking forward to next year and having a full team. When I talk to a couple of my coaching friends, they were amazed with how hard the kids ran. All in all, with both teams, this is a top-notch group of student-athletes."
Middle Tennessee defended its women's title with a score of 31. Rice's Grace Forbes ran away with the women's individual title with a time of 19:58.60.
For all the latest on Louisiana Tech cross country, follow on Twitter at @LATechTFXC and at LATechSports.com.
