FAYETTEVILLE – North Texas raced at the 30^thannual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival hosted by Arkansas with a strong showing from the Mean Green men to place fourth amongst nearly 50 teams while the women concluded in ninth place Saturday at Agri Park.
 
A solid performance by Rea Iseli in the 5k with a time of 17:31.8 awarded her a ninth place finish to lead the UNT women. The reigning C-USA Cross Country Male Athlete of the Week, Florian Lussy, clocked in at 25:07.2 in the 8k as the first Mean Green to cross the finish line in 23^rd place. Four other UNT runners also completed the race within the next minute in Jack Beaumont (25:19.2 – 29^thplace), Alec Esposito (25:25.8 – 31^st), Alex Cleveland (25:52.4 – 53^rd), and Tim Jones (25:55.4 – 61^st).
 
Caleb Bouchard (26:12.9 – 84^th), Matthew Morgan (26:26.1 – 97^th), and Andrew Cobos (26:28.4 – 102^nd) rounded out the Mean Green squad. 
 
"We had a great effort by the men who executed our game plan and ran confident," stated Head Coach Kevin Williams. "There were great performances by Alec Esposito in his first 8k, and this is Alex Cleveland's best race in awhile. We were the second Division I which was a great result."
 
Following Iseli, Cassidy Adams came in 50^that 18:28.5, and Tatum Shelton was 67^thwith a time of 18:43.0. Jennifer White (19:07.4 – 99^th), Aubrey Schmidt (19:11.8 – 106^th), Kacie Mayberry (20:57.9 – 240^th), and Darrian Johnson (20:58.5 – 241^st) also finished for the Mean Green.
 
"Rea Iseli ran the race of the day and was really strong against some great competition. Tatum Shelton had her fastest time ever, and as a team I felt we ran a lot better 1-7 than at the two previous meets," Williams said.
 
The No. 9 Razorback women and 14^th-ranked men took home team titles for Arkansas.
 
Next up, UNT travels to the Arturo Barrios Invite hosted by Texas A&M October 13.