Mcneese Men place 5th, women 8th at Rice Invitational

HOUSTON – Alex Bruce-Littlewood ­­ran a 16:51 6K for a third place overall finish at the 37th annual Justin F. Cooper Rice Invitational cross country meet here Friday evening as the Cowboys, ranked 7th in the latest USTFCCCA South Central Region poll, finished fifth in the 13-team field.
 
Bruce-Littlewood, and a ninth place finish by Alex Evans with a time of 17:07, gave the Cowboys two top 10 finishes in the meet.
 
Other Cowboy finisher had Humberto Gonzales in 17th place with a time of 17:17, Delguste Martin at 31st with a clocking of 17:48 and Alex Kiptoo in 33rd at 17:52 to round out the scoring runners. 
 
Lewi Manirumva finished the race with a time of 17:53, Brock Moreaux at 18:01 and Andrew Kogut at 18:40.
 
Texas A&M won the team title with a score of 37 followed by Lamar and Rice in a tie for second with 85 points, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in fourth with 88, McNeese at 93, Houston 161, Sam Houston State 201, Trinity 217, Adidas Team Green 287, Prairie View 319, Texas Southern 324, Texas State 330 and Texas A&M-Kingsville 323.
 
Henry Lelie of Texas A&M won the individual title after he finished with a time of 16:25 followed by Matt Johnsen of Lamar at 16:48 and Bruce-Littlewood.
 
On the women's side, the Cowgirls finished eighth out of 14 teams and led by Fionnuala Ross' 10th place finish with a time of 13:08 in the 4K race.
 
Other scorers for the Cowgirls had Amy Talbot with a clocking of 13:49, Laura Casey at 13:53, Allison Crawford at 13:54 and Corissa Storms at 14:18.  Other finishers for McNeese saw Lauren Cooper clock in at 14:35, Sarah Van Horn at 14:44, Jillian Biggini at 15:01 and Kaitlyn Jeter at 15:09.
 
Texas A&M won the event with a score of 42 points followed by Rice at 114, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 123, Stephen F. Austin 139, Adidas Team Green 167, Sam Houston State 167, Trinity 168, McNeese 170, Lamar 181, Texas State 207, Houston 245, Houston Baptist 292, Texas A&M-Kingsville 344 and Prairie View 406.
 
Stephen F. Austin's Lauren Smith won the individual title with a 12:47 followed by Sophie Blake of Texas A&M at 12:53.