ORLANDO – The UCF cross country team wraps up the regular season on Saturday with a trip to College Station, Texas to compete in the Arturo Barrios Invitational at 10:45 p.m. ET at the Watts Cross Country Course.
The squad makes the journey to Texas A&M following a dominant performance at the Florida Atlantic Invitational in Boca Raton two weeks ago. Seven Knights finished in the top 15, securing the Black and Gold first place. It was the first time UCF won the Florida Atlantic Invitational since it began competing in 2017.
Penelope Sosa was a step above in south Florida, winning the 5k race with a time of 17:55.3, her first overall win as a Knight. Sosa and the team will look to take the good form to Texas, the furthest cross country has traveled since the Big Wave Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2016. "A race is a race, I don't care if it's here or in Alaska, I'm just going to run," Sosa said.
Mariana Rodriquez is the only runner who has competed in Texas at the collegiate level following her transfer from Houston in 2019. On the preparation for Saturday's meet, she said, "training has been very solid, consistent throughout these few weeks, we're ready to show what we can do at A&M."
UCF stayed at 13th in last week's USTFCCCA South Regional ranking following its good run in both the North Alabama Showcase and the penultimate regular season race at Florida Atlantic.
With the AAC Championships in Tulsa at the end of the month, the Knights will look to secure a strong finish in the 42-team field.
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