The Youngstown State men's and women's cross country programs will head down south to compete at the Texas A&M Arturo Barrios Invitational at the WATTS Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas on Friday.

The invite will begin with the men's 8k at 9:30 a.m. Eastern followed by the women's 6k at 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

Penguins Participants

Men's 8k:
Keegan Barnette
Luke Baun
Owen Brady
Thomas Caputo
Hunter Christopher
Tyler Clark
Ty Coon
Blaze Fichter
Beau Gorby 
Thomas Hunyadi
Riley Jackson
Tobias Jones
Ryan Meadows
Connor Shingleton
Sage Vavro

Women's 6k:
Kenzy Beckett
Morgan Cole
Alayna Cuevas 
Malena Cybak 
Alyssa Deeds
Aiamyia Dudley
Grace Rhoades
Hannah Wagner

Competing Teams

42 universities will bring runners to compete at this national invitational. Teams set to compete at the invite are: Texas A&M, Arkansas State, Baylor, Boston College, Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Houston, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Indiana, Kennesaw State, Lamar, Louisiana, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, McNeese State, New Mexico State, Nicholls State, North Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Rice, SMU (Women), South Dakota State, Stephen F. Austin, TAMU – Corpus Christi, TAMU-Texarkana, TCU, Texas State, Texas Tech, Toledo, Tulane, UCF (Women), UCLA, Utah Valley, UT-Arlington, UTEP, UTRGV, UTSA and Youngstown State.

The Penguin men are currently ranked 12th in the Great Lakes Region and will face numerous other regionally ranked teams. They will face Great Lakes foes Toledo (#9), Indiana (#10), and Ohio State (#11) at the Arturo Barrios Invitational. Other regionally ranked teams on the men's side include Texas A&M (#3, South Central), Tulane (#4, South), New Mexico (#5, Mountain), Incarnate Word (#5, South Central), Houston (#7, South Central), South Dakota State (#8, Midwest), Rice (#10, South Central), Georgia Tech (#11, South), Texas Tech (#11, Mountain), Baylor (#12, South), Utah Valley (#12, Mountain), LSU (#14 South Central) and TCU (#15, South Central).

Last Time Out

Youngstown State was last in action at the Bill Lennox Slippery Rock Invitational on Oct. 7 where they picked up a pair of runner-up finishes.

Three of the top four finishers on the men's team set personal bests in the 8K race, and the women showed great pack running with all five top finishers crossing the line within a 14-second window.

Riley Jackson was the top finisher on the men's squad with a fifth-place time of 25:32, which was a personal best. Thomas Hunyadi was 17 seconds behind him with a personal-best time of 25:49 to finish ninth, giving the Penguins two finishers in the top nine. Keegan Barnette finished 13th with a season-best time of 25:57, and Beau Gorby's 15th-place time of 26:11 was the best of his career. William Hanchosky crossed the line fifth for the Penguins in 27:15 to finish 38th, narrowly edging Sage Vavro in 39st.

On the women's side, all seven runners finished between 12th and 31st. Freshman Grace Rhoades was the top Penguin finisher in 12th with a time of 23:22. The 14th through 17th placers were all Penguins as Alayna Cuevas (23:29), Kenzy Beckett (23:34), Aiamyia Dudley (23:34) and Hannah Wagner (23:36) finished within seven seconds of each other.

YSU's men's team finished second with 73 points, and the YSU's women's team secured a runner-up finish with 85 points.

Up Next

The Penguins trip to Texas A&M marks the Penguins' last race before heading to the highly anticipated Horizon League Championships on Oct. 28 in Fairborn, Ohio.

The league championships, hosted by Wright State, will begin with the men's 8k at 11 a.m. followed by the women's 6k at noon.

For live updates and results throughout the 2023 season, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.