Sept. 26, 2007

Texas A&M International University's cross country teams will take the short trip to the Coastal Bend to participate in the Islander Splash in Corpus Christi on Friday afternoon. The meet will be hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at West Guth Park.

There is a field of approximately 14 teams in both races, ranging from junior college to NCAA Division I squads. TAMIU are Texas A&M-Kingsville are the only NCAA Division II schools scheduled to participate.

TAMIU will participate in the Islander Splash after competing in the Texas A&M Invitational last Saturday. The highlight of that meet was sophomore Gedyon Kiflezgi's 26:51 8K effort. That time was his third best effort as a Dustdevil and only 44 seconds off of a personal best mark. Both teams finished in 12th place in the final team standings.

Head coach Benny Rodríguez says both teams are showing signs of improvement and he expects a better showing in Corpus Christ.

"After a month of intense training the men are rounding into shape," Rodríguez said. "The women were a bit overwhelmed with the competition last weekend but we will get over the hump soon."