Lady Rangers shine at Chile Pepper Fest
The Ranger College women's cross country team turned in a solid outing this past weekend at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Lady Rangers, despite competing with just five runners, finished as the top small college in a meet that featured numerous NCAA programs.
"The women beat all the community colleges in their race including 13th-ranked Pratt Community College and 16th-ranked North Iowa Area," said RC head coach Kathy Graham. "I'm proud of the way they ran."
As a team, Ranger placed 24th overall. Oklahoma Baptist University won the team championship by edging out East Central Oklahoma University.
Natali Mireles continued to impress as a freshman. She raced her way to 55th in a field of more than 350 women. She covered the 5-kilometer Agri Park course in a time of 19 minutes, 43.9 seconds. Her time was well off the winning mark of 17:28.5 posted by Central Missouri's Cynthia Togom.
Kaylyn De La Rosa also turned in an outstanding performance for Ranger. She legged out a 62nd-place finish with a time of 19:48.8.
Aylin Huerta and Yenifer Martinez also did well. Huerta placed 113th, while Martinez was 174th. Freshman Fae Gonzalez was 275th.
The RC women will return to action on Oct. 11 by hosting the Ranger Invitational. The three-team meet will get underway at 5 p.m. on the RC trails.