LEVELLAND — With the regular season complete, the South Plains College men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Garden City, Kansas on Nov. 10 for the 2018 NJCAA Cross Country National Championships on the campus of Garden City Community College.

The women's 5k will get underway at noon, followed by the men's 8k at 1 p.m. Live results will be available at the following link: https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/1751.

"We have two good teams and have done what we need to do this season," South Plains head coach Erik Vance said. "As far as the polls go, going into this meet I'm not sure anyone has given us much thought, and that's fine with us. It's not important whether other people believe in us, it's just important that our kids believe in themselves. We have had four different kids place first on our men's team, and those shows the depth of that team and what they can do."  

In their last outing at the Region V Championships in Ranger, the ninth-ranked Texans placed four runners inside the top 10 as they finished with a total time of 2:18:05 with an average time of 27:37. El Paso Community College won the men's 8k with a total time of 2:13:43 with an average time of 26:44.

Sophomore Filmon Beyene led the Texans with a third place overall finish, clocking a final time of 26:08. South Plains' Andrew Bosquez placed sixth overall thanks to a time of 27:20.2, while Alex Kitum and Jesse Madrid placed ninth and 10^th. Kitum turned in a final time of 27:42.8, with Madrid crossing the line at 27:55.5, respectively.

The Lady Texans also placed second as freshman Gladys Jemaiyo earned a second place finish with a time of 18:16.5. Freshman Dorcus Ewoi also placed inside the top five as she paced herself to a fourth-place finish with a time of 19:10.9. South Plains' Angela Rodriguez would go on to place 11^th overall with a time of 21:00.6, while Nyia Sena used a time of 21:12.2 to take 13^th.

"Our women's team has just continued to improve as the years gone on," Vance said. "I think this meet will be the healthiest they have been since our season opener, and they have had some odd things happen and it has taken a little time to get them back and healthy. I think they are lined up for a top 10 finish and will get out there and surprise some people."