Perhaps head coach Shawn Winget has a crystal ball because his predictions for last weekend’s North Texas Invitational became reality.During a Thursday interview, Winget said he was looking for strong performances out of senior Matt Manly and sophomore Festus Kigen in the men’s race.
Kigen came out on top of the men’s 8K in his first race at the University of North Texas after being scratched from last season’s four-mile competition. His time of 24:41.43 beat Patrick Strong of UNT by more than 30 seconds.
“Festus ran a nice smooth race and looked good,” Winget said. “Meanwhile, Matt is getting back into his old form.”
Manly took sixth overall in the competition, a three-place improvement from last season’s ninth-place finish. The work of these two helped carry the men’s squad to a third-place team finish in the race compared to a sixth-place spot in last season’s opener.
“It was their first race at that distance this season and they are improving each week,” Winget said.
The women’s team gained its first team victory of the season by placing the top five runners in the first 14 finishing spots within a span of 54 seconds.
“We had a solid pack with all seven runners in the top 20 spots,” Winget said.
The underclassmen talent keyed the placement of the team. Freshman Tanja Ivandic took second place overall in the women’s race, while sophomore Dani Selner crossed the line in sixth place.
Carlene Mayfield, who was the team’s No. 2 runner last season, is still recovering from an injury last summer. Mayfield, a sophomore, finished in 22nd place out of 38 runners compared to her fifth-place finish in last season’s race.
This race marked the first women’s team win of the season for the Horned Frogs and was an improvement from last season’s second-place finish behind the Baylor Bears. This season, Baylor was not eligible for a team placement in the meet because only two runners competed. A minimum of five are required for a team scoring.
The day after the race, the team began training for this weekend’s competition at the Texas A&M Invitational with a lengthy recovery run.
“We did a recovery run between eight and 14 miles,” Winget said. “Some of the freshmen ran eight, while the upperclassmen ran 14.
