COMMERCE (10/11/03) Led by Jessica Schmidt’s victory in the women’s division, the North Texas women’s cross country team raced to a team championship Saturday at the Texas A&M-Commerce Lion Invitational.

Schmidt was one of three North Texas runners to place in the top five overall as the Mean Green women finished with 31 points to top the eight-team field. Also in the top five were Dagmar Salazar in third place and Bonnie McKernan in fifth. Cassie Storms also crossed in the top 10 with an eight-place finish in the 6,000-meter event.

“Our ladies continue to improve every week and ran their best race,” said North Texas head coach Rick Watkins. “This race is the distance we’ll run at the conference and regional meets and was longer than most of our ladies had ever run. I was proud of them for going after this distance with no fear.”

On the men’s side, freshman Josh Rogers ran a personal best and finished second individually. North Texas had only one other runner finish among the top 20, with matter Gieringer placing 17th.

“Josh looked really strong in workouts all week long, and he really ran a great race,” said Watkins. “He ran a personal best by well over a minute.”

The men’s team was missing two of its top runners (Justin Kauffman and Brad Thompson), with Rogers being one of four first-year freshmen representing the Mean Green, who placed fifth in the team standings.

Other finishers for the North Texas women included Brenda Bernal in 17th and Jordan Skelton in 21st. For the Mean Green men, Jason Bacchus was 24th, Logan Newall was 25th , Eddie Melendez was 29th and Chris Morrow 33rd.

Next up for North Texas is the Sam Houston Invitational on Friday.

Women finishes (6,000-meters)
1.Jessica Schmidt (21:42)
3.Dagmar Salazar (22:52)
5.Bonnie McKernan (23:07)
8.Cassie Storms (24:05)
17. Brenda Bernal (25:01)
21. Jordan Skelton (25:28)

Men finishes (8,000 meters)
2.Josh Rogers (25:39)
17.Matt Gieringer (27:05)
24.Jason Bacchus (27:22)
25.Logan Newell (27:31)
29.Eddie Melendez (27:47)
33.Chris Morrow (28:07)