LEVELLAND — The South Plains College men's and women's cross country teams will return to action on Friday when they travel to Hobbs, New Mexico for the New Mexico Junior College Open which will get underway at 5 p.m. MST.

In their previous outing on Sept. 14 in Lubbock, the sixth-ranked Texans finished second overall with 49 points as they placed three runners inside the top five and four in the top 12.

Freshman Japhet Toroitich was the first Texan across the finished line as he took third with a time of 26:30:00. Sophomore Filmon Beyene and Andrew Bosquez placed fourth and fifth for South Plains with their times of 26:35:50 and 26:38:70, respectively. Sophomore Jessie Madrid placed 12th for the orange and blue with a time of 27:20:40 as the Texans finished with a final team average of 27:07.96.

The fifth-ranked Lady Texans earned a fourth-place team finish as freshman Gladys Jemaiyo took the top spot in the women's 5k for the second time in as many weeks as the Kenya native turned in a final time of 17:56:50. Freshman Dorcus Ewoi wasn't far behind as she placed fifth overall amongst 107 runners with a time of 18:30:50. South Plains finished with a final team average of 19:40.00, with Texas Tech, Wayland Baptist, and Abilene Christian taking the top three spots.

Following Friday's meet, the South Plains will run on their home course on Oct. 6 in Levelland at the South Plains College Open.