FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — St. Edward's men's cross country turned to a new face at the front of its lineup Saturday, with freshman Benjamin Macias leading a tightly packed Hilltopper trio at the Chile Pepper XC Festival.
Macias completed the 8K McDonnell race in 26:07.0 to finish 89th overall and 84th among scoring runners, leading St. Edward's to a 22nd-place finish in a 26-team field featuring several NCAA Division I programs.
Sophomore Javier Ramirez crossed just 6.5 seconds behind Macias in 26:13.5, followed by junior HOGAN HEIKKINEN in 26:15.3. Only 8.3 seconds separated the Hilltoppers' first three finishers, giving St. Edward's a compact group at the front of its lineup.
The performance represented a changing of the guard from the Hilltoppers' first two meets. Graduate student BEN BAYLY led St. Edward's at the Texas A&M Invitational three weeks ago with a 25:23.9, finishing as the first NCAA Division II runner across the line. All-Lone Star Conference returner ARLO GONZALES missed that race with an injury, and neither Bayly nor Gonzales competed Saturday.
Macias emerged in their absence, delivering the first sub-26:10 performance of his collegiate career against a field that included Texas, North Texas, UTEP, UT Arlington, Baylor, Houston Christian, Kansas City, Memphis and several of the region's Division II programs. Texas won the team title with 64 points, followed by North Texas with 103 and UTEP with 137. Missouri Western's Pau Valderrama won the individual title in 24:02.8.
Freshman JOE IBARRA was the fourth Hilltopper across the line, finishing in 26:47.2. Senior WILLIAM SULENTICH followed one place later in 26:49.3 to complete the scoring five and give St. Edward's a team score of 515 points with an average time of 26:26.
St. Edward's finished eight places behind Lone Star Conference opponent UT Tyler, which scored 388 points for 14th. Dallas Baptist, another South Central Region opponent, finished eighth with 255 points.
Freshman ADRIAN HERNANDEZ finished sixth for the Hilltoppers in 26:53.3, followed by junior PARKER STEVENS in 27:00.7. Freshmen CALEB KYBURZ and ANTHONY GONZALEZ completed the St. Edward's contingent in 27:03.1 and 27:27.9, respectively.
Although the Hilltoppers were without the two runners expected to anchor the front of their lineup entering the season, Saturday provided valuable experience for a younger group. Two freshmen, Macias and Ibarra, finished among the scoring five, while four freshmen competed in their first Chile Pepper Festival.
The 22nd-place finish matches St. Edward's result from last year's Chile Pepper Festival, when the Hilltoppers finished 22nd out of 30 teams. The program's best finish at the event came in 2022, when St. Edward's placed 17th out of 33 teams.
St. Edward's returns to competition Oct. 17 in Dallas for its final scheduled race before the Lone Star Conference Championships on Nov. 7 in Lubbock.
