Lady Rangers run to 2nd at Graham/RC Invite
Jessica Thomas-Billot is making a habit of doing well at the William Graham Ranger College Invitational. And the Lady Rangers are glad she is.
A sophomore from France, Thomas-Billot nailed down her third top-5 outing in the Lady Rangers' home meet by legging out a second-place finish in Saturday's 5-kilometer race. Her runner-up effort makes her the only runner in the race's history to place first, second and third.
The 2020 race champion, Thomas-Billot was again a power on her home course. She sprinted through the winding trail and finished with a time of 20 minutes, 17.2 seconds. Overall, she was just 12.3 seconds behind Tarleton State University's Brooke Wendel who won with a time of 20:04.9.
Thomas-Billot finished third in her first appearance in the race by posting a time of 19:53.8 in 2018. Two seasons later, in 2020, she won the race with a mark of 19:53.2.
As a team, Ranger finished the meet well. The Lady Rangers had five runners finish in the top 10 and tallied just 34 points. Tarleton State won the women's team crown with 21 points.
"Overall, the women ran well against D1 competition from just over yonder (in Stephenville) a week after competing against tough competition at the Chile Pepper Invitational," said RC head coach Christopher Zent.
Jenesis Castillo and Madison Rowland turned in solid outings in their first appearances on the trail. Castillo placed sixth with a time of 21:03.0, while Rowland came in seventh – one spot ahead of former RC runner Johnnie Wilkinson - at 21:19.8.
Wilkinson, now a senior at Tarleton, competed as a member of the Lady Rangers in the 2016-17 season, was eighth overall.
Alauna Stackhouse and Cameryn Boykin rounded out the scoring runners for RC. Stackhouse was ninth at 21:36.9, while Boykin was 10th with a time of 21:41.7.
Sylvia Kipkeoch finished 15th with a mark of 25:39.9.
Ranger will now turn its attention to preparing for the Region V Championships on Oct. 30 in Hobbs, New Mexico.