The Youngstown State men's and women's cross-country teams will close out regular season competition this week as they travel down south to College Station, Texas to compete in the seventh-annual Arturo Barrios Invitational Friday at the Watts Cross Country Course.

Men's Preview

The Youngstown State men will compete in the 8K race, which is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. CT (9:30 a.m. ET).

13 men will compete for the Penguins: Keegan Barnette, Owen Brady, Thomas Caputo, Hunter Christopher, Blaze Fichter, Beau Gorby, Thomas Hunyadi, Riley Jackson, Joshua Jones, Tobias Jones, Ryan Meadows, Connor Shingleton, and Sage Vavro.

The men are coming off a strong performance in the Blue Men's 8K race at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational on October 4^th. Thomas Caputo led the men with a 66^th-place finish individually, as he ran a time of 23:45.7, the third-fastest in program history. Ryan Meadows was the next Penguin to cross the finish line, as he ran a time of 23:54.8, which was good enough for an 82^nd-place finish. Tobias Jones finished closely behind Meadows in 85^th place, as he ran a time of 23:57.4, making it three Penguins that finished the race in under 24 minutes. The men finished 18^th overall as a team.

Penguin Men Ranked in USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Rankings

The men were listed as the top-ranked Horizon League team in the latest USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Rankings. YSU is ranked 11^th, with fellow Horizon League school Oakland also being ranked in the top 15, coming in at number 14.

Women's Preview

The Youngstown State women will compete in the 6K race, which is set to begin at 9:15 a.m. CT (10:15 a.m. ET).

Seven women will compete for the Penguins: Aiamyia Dudley, McKinley Fielding, Molly Hopple, Jenna Razavi, Caleigh Richards, Megan Stafford, and Molly Yasnowski.

Also coming off a performance at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational, the YSU women competed in the Gold Women's 5K race. Like the men, the women also put together some strong times. Freshman Caleigh Richards led the way, as she put together a time of 17:25.2, the third-fastest 5K time in program history, as she paced the Penguin women with a 10^th-place finish.  McKinley Fielding also clocked another strong time, as she finished 11^th with a time of 17:29.6. Her time was the fourth-fastest in program history in the 5K. Molly Hopple was the third Penguin to cross the finish line as she ran a time of 18:44.5, which was good enough for a 90^th-place finish.

Competing Teams

41 teams in total will compete at the meet on Friday, including Abilene Christian, Arizona State, Arkansas State, Baylor, Boise State, Central Arkansas, Charleston Southern, Colorado (women), Delaware (women), Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Houston, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Louisiana, McNeese State, Mercer, Middle Tennessee State, New Mexico State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Dakota, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Rice, Sam Houston, SMU (women), Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Texarkana, Tarleton State, TCU, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Texas Tech, UT-Arlington, UTSA, and Youngstown State.

Penguins Receive Horizon League Weekly Honors

After eye-opening performances in South Bend the last time out, Thomas Caputo and Caleigh Richards were honored by the Horizon League as part of their weekly awards on Oct. 8. Caputo was named the #HLXC Men's Runner of the Week after his career-best 23:45.7 time at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational. Caleigh Richards was named the #HLXC Women's Freshman of the Week after her race in South Bend where she also clocked a career-best time in the 5K, finishing in 17:25.2. These were the first weekly honors for both Caputo and Richards.

Up Next

The Penguins will travel to Green Bay, Wis. on Nov. 2 to compete in the highly anticipated 2024 Horizon League Championships at Phoenix Alumni Cross Country Course.

The women's 6K championship race will kick things off at 11 a.m. CT (Noon ET), with the men's 8K race following at approximately 1 p.m. CT (Noon ET).

For live updates and results throughout the 2024 season, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on X.