DALLAS, TX - Cannon fire started the Tigers day at the DBU Old Glory Gallop, the race led by horses rather than people, with 500 runners streaming out behind them, jostling for space as an open start narrowed down into a funnel designed to accommodate barely 15 people across. On a course pockmarked with holes and full of rolling hills, the Tigers took on a mix of D2 and D3 competition.
The Tiger men would take to the course first at 8:15, with temperatures hovering in the low 40s, the course was primed for performance. The Tigers delivered.
Eli Bliss (Garden Ridge, Texas / Davenport), now enjoying his second race of the season, joined
George Mikhael (Livermore, Calif. / Granada) and
Layton Carlisle (Houston, Texas / Bridgeland) at the front of the Trinity squad, the trio turned in nearly identical times, separated by just over a second, right around 24:39. Following them across the line was junior
Kyle Fix (Wilmette, Illinois / New Trier), finishing in a time of 25:10, and then
Sivin Naik (Austin, Texas / Westwood) turning in a time of 25:27. The Tigers would move up throughout the race, moving up from 17th through 2k, all the way to 10th as a team.
Roughly an hour later, Trinity's women's team would finish 7th in their race. Their race started at 9:15 under clear blue skies and with a strong breeze, though they would face muddy conditions after the men's race took its toll on the grassy course. With
Gianna Keena (Lakeway, Texas / Lake Travis) absent, Trinity would look to its junior pair of
Anne Snider (Waco, Texas / Live Oak Classical) and
Emerson Voldan (Arlington, Texas / Mansfield Summit) to lead their squad. The pair would come through in 17:54 and 18:13 respectively. Close behind them was
Sophia Munoz (Austin, Texas / Austin) in 18:18 and
Ciara Catton (Leander, Texas / Leander) just a second behind in 18:19. Rounding out the top 5 was
Annette Smith (Houston, Texas / Ridge Point) in a time of 18:32. Even without their perennial top finisher, the women turned in a set of strong performances and will no doubt be looking forward to taking their full strength squad to conference in two weeks.
Both squads will look to defend their Conference titles in two weeks. They will travel to Sewanee, Tennessee for the chance to become back-to-back SAA Cross Country Champions. With the championship season close on the horizon, this DBU performance will give them confidence heading into the most important moment of their season.
