GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler men's and women's cross country teams finished in third place on the men's side and fifth place on the women's side to notch top five finishes in the opening race of the 2021 season at the DBU Orville Rogers XC Opener on Saturday morning.
 
All five finishers for the men's side recorded top-25 finishes, paced by redshirt freshman Angel Contreras, who placed in sixth place with a time of 26:02.1 in the 8K race. Landon Thornton, Seth Andrade and Alexander Asad placed 11^th, 14, and 15^th in the race to help the Patriots total a score of 67, two points shy of second place Rogers State.
 
Redshirt junior Natasha Carcano finished in 19^th place individually as the top runner on the women's side for UT Tyler, completing the 5K in a time of 19:53.2. The Patriots finished with 153 total points on the morning, bettering a pair of Lone Star Conference foes in Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
 
Dallas Baptist secured wins in both the men's and women's races with 20 total points on the men's side, and 32 total points on the women's side.
 
Contreras started his 2021 campaign off with his second straight top-10 performance at the DBU Orville Rogers XC Opener after last year's eighth-place finish. The trio of Thornton, Andrade and Asad all remained steady, as Thornton paced the group with his 11^th place finish overall with a time of 26:22.0.
 
Andrade and Asad finished one spot apart in 14^th and 15^th, crossing the finish line in times of 26:26.8 and 26:27.2. Redshirt freshman Kalen Barlow rounded out the five counting finishers for the Patriots with a time of 27:15.0, placing in 21^st place overall.
 
Freshman Calista Segura impressed in her Patriot debut on the women's side, posting an overall finish of 29^th with a time of 20:41.5 in the race. A pair of returners for UT Tyler followed Segura in redshirt sophomore Shelby John and redshirt senior Theresa Simmons.
 
John finished in 31^st place overall with a time of 20:51.2, while Simmons ran a mark of 21:04.7 to finish in 35^th. Redshirt junior Tiffany Vargas rounded out the five counting scores for the Patriots women's team with a 39^th place finish and a time of 21:57.7.
 
The complete list of Patriot finishers can be found below.
 
Both teams will return to action for the second race of the season on Sept. 18 at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo.  

Place	Runner	Time
6	Angel Contreras	26:02.1
11	Landon Thornton	26:22.0
14	Seth Andrade	26:26.8
15	Alexander Asad	26:27.2
21	Kalen Barlow	27:15.0
37	Matthew Cecotti	30:52.5