RC men take 2nd at Chile Pepper Festival
Jeremias Serrano Velez and the Ranger College men's cross country team continued to turn heads this season. Serrano Velez powered his way over the 8-kilometer course and helped power the Rangers to a second-place finish at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last weekend. The meet, which was hosted by the University of Arkansas, was held at Agri Park on Oct. 5 and featured 39 teams, including numerous NCAA programs.
Ranger's top five runners all finished in the top 70 positions in the event, including Serrano Velez who ran by himself much of the race en route to his second victory of the season. As a team, the Ranger men scored 179 points in the meet and finished just 38 points behind champion Texas Southern. Sam Houston State was third at 189.
Texas Southern's title paled in comparison to what Serrano Velez was able to accomplish.
A freshman from Killeen, Texas, Serrano Velez completed the race with a winning time of 25 minutes, 3.5 seconds, and finished more than 11 seconds ahead of is nearest competition, Sam Houston State University's Andrew Bosquez.
Serrano Velez's time, according to RC head coach Kathy Graham, was among the best ever posted by a Ranger College runner.
Sophomore Gilberto Palomo also turned in an exceptional outing for RC. He gave the Rangers a second top-20 finish by legging out a 16th-place time of 26:10.6.
Edward Njunguna, Johnbosco Muiruri and Azael Reyes also turned in stellar outings. Njunguna was 37th in the men's individual standings with a run of 26:42.4. Muiruri and Reyes placed 57th and 69th, respectively.
Also running in the meet for RC were Jalen Ledesma, who finished 143rd in the 346-runner field, and Sakariye Ismail, who checked in 187th.
The Rangers will return to action on Friday by competing in the Ranger College Invitational. The three-team event will begin at 5 p.m. on the RC running trail.