The Arturo Barrios is hosted by Texas A&M at Watts Cross Country Course in College Station. UTA has competed at the Arturo Barrios in every season since 2018. The Mavericks finished 16th on the men’s side and 15th in women’s competition at last season’s edition of the event.
UTA is coming off another good outing at the 38th Annual Chile Pepper Festival. As a team, the men finished seventh out of 26 teams while the women’s side surged into fourth out of 29, a spot that placed them in front of power four programs Baylor and Texas.
Individually, it was a record-setting day for Dorcas Jepkosgei. The UTA sophomore broke the program record in women’s 5k for the second time in as many years. Nearly a year to the day when she first set the record with a time of 16 minutes and 9.5 seconds at the 2025 Chile Pepper Festival, she beat her own mark by over 10 seconds with a 15:59.1.
Jepkosgei narrowly missed out on the outright individual women’s title as Arkansas’ Braelyn Combe caught Jepkosgei at the tape to win by a tenth of a second.
On the men’s side, Toby Eaton led the way for the Mavericks, finishing with a time of 24:38.8 and in 14th place overall. Both Eaton and Jepkosgei were named UAC Men’s and Women’s Runners of the Week for their efforts at the event.
UTA will carry a full lineup to its regular season finale.
INSIDE THE LINEUP
Women
- Dorcas Jepkosgei finished second or better for the sixth time in her UTA Cross Country career and won her fourth weekly conference cross country award following her outing at the Chile Pepper Festival.
- In addition to setting the program record for the second time at the Chile Pepper Festival, Jepkosgei’s time was just two seconds off of the Agri Park course record.
- Jepkosgei ran a 20:02.5 in the 6k at the 2025 Arturo Barrios Invitational, finishing 16th.
- Matron Jepkemboi made her season debut at the Chile Pepper Festival, running the 5k in 16:59 and finishing 18th.
- Jepkemboi’s personal best time in the 6k came at the 2023 Arturo Barrios where she ran a 19:49.2.
- Connie Chiptoo Ndiema ran her second collegiate career cross country race at the Chile Pepper Festival, finishing with the third best time among Mavericks at 17:19.5. She finished 34th overall.
- Emilia Mandl made her season debut at the Chile Pepper Festival, smashing her previous personal-best time in the 5k by over 25 seconds with a time of 17:43.5. The Malmö, Sweden native was the fourth Maverick to cross the finish line and finished 50th overall.
- Lauren Baur was the fifth UTA runner to finish at the Chile Pepper Festival. The senior beat her personal best in the 5k for the second meet in a row, running it in a time of 18:06.2 and finishing 80th overall.
- Abigail Perez, Justina Lusby and Sophia Hamdani all finished within two seconds of each other at the Chile Pepper Festival. Perez ran an 18:12.1, finishing 86th, Lusby finished close behind with a time of 18:13.3 in 89th and Hamdani ran an 18:14.3 to finish 91st.
- Lusby’s time of 18:13.3 set a new personal best.
Men
- Toby Eaton’s effort at the Chile Pepper Festival netted him his second weekly conference cross country award of his UTA career.
- Eaton has finished in the top 15 in his first two events of the season.
- Mateo Doherty followed up the first victory of his collegiate career in the 5k at the Gerald Richey with a 21st place finish in the 8k at the Chile Pepper Festival. The Argentina native clocked a time of 24:49.7.
- Kebede Kerlin was the third Maverick to cross the finish line at the Chile Pepper Festival, finishing 38th overall with a time of 25:22.6.
- Jameson Stewart placed 82nd overall with a time of 26:01.7. He was the fourth Maverick to finish the 8k at the Chile Pepper Festival.
- Leo LeGrand made his season debut in the 8k at the Chile Pepper Festival, his fifth career cross country event with UTA. The senior set a new personal-best time by clocking a 26:27.6. He finished 114th overall in a field of over 270 runners.
- Capping off UTA’s lineup, Lucas Whitt placed 119th in his first collegiate 8k, running the event in 26:30.3.
- Angel Sanchez makes his return to the lineup. The sophomore last competed in the 5k at the Gerald Richey Invitational where he finished in second place with a personal best time of 14:37.9.
- While this is set to be Daniel Armstrong’s fourth season at UTA, the Chile Pepper would be just the second cross country meet he’s competed in as a Maverick, the other being the Arturo Barrios Invitational in 2024.
- Kellen Frickel is in his first cross country season with the Mavericks after spending the previous three at Tarleton State. Frickel joined UTA for the track and field season in the spring of 2026.
Meet Information
Date: Oct. 16, 2026
Women’s 6K / 8:50 a.m.
Men’s 8K / 8:15 a.m.
Location: Watts Cross Country Course: College Station, TX
Live Results
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