TROY, Ala. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns cross country team posted a seventh-place finish in both the men's 8K race and the women's 5K event after competing on Saturday at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at Trojan Oaks.
The Ragin' Cajuns scored 169 points on the women's side and finished ahead of Troy (193), ULM (264) and UALR (283) in the 10-team event. On the men's side, Louisiana finished with 160 points and placed ahead of Texas State (163) and Troy (227) in the nine-team field.
League newcomer UT Arlington claimed five of the top seven spots in the men's race to capture the league title with 23 points. UALR (54), South Alabama (86), Arkansas State (142) and WKU (145) rounded out the top five. In the women's race, Arkansas State claimed the league title with 50 points and finishing ahead of UTA (62), WKU (68), Georgia State (92), South Alabama (107) and Texas State (151).
Anna Katherine Devitt, who earned third-team all-conference honors, finished 15th overall in the women's 5K event after crossing the finish line in 18 minutes, 46.4 seconds. Claire Hodges finished 26th overall (19:15.9) for the Ragin' Cajuns with Danielle Castaldi placing 32nd (19:47.4), Courtney Musgrove 46th (20:23.4) and Kaylei Esfeller 52nd (21:00.6).
Ashley Irwin placed 53rd (21:01.4) for Louisiana with Genevieve Roy finishing 59th (21:24.0) and Courtney Donald 65th (21:57.4).
Freshman Logan Pearce led the Ragin' Cajuns in the men's race, crossing the finish line in 26:39.0 to finish 20th overall. Cole Stafford finished 27th (27:06.8) overall for Louisiana and was followed by Trey Bonin (33rd, 27:24.3), Jacob Chicola (39th, 27:43.2), and Corbett Ourso (43rd, 27:51.8).
Scott Brewster finished 47th (28:15.1) for the Ragin' Cajuns with Sean Bezdek (53rd, 28:41.9) and Alex Hebert (59th, 29:27.8) following.
