For Immediate Release: October 26, 2000
Contact: Derek Smolik, UTPA Director of Athletic Media Relations

UT Pan American to Host Adrian Martinez Invitational Cross Country Meet Saturday Morning

EDINBURG – The University of Texas-Pan American Cross Country Team will host the Adrian Martinez Memorial Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at the Ebony Hills Golf Course in Edinburg.

The Broncs and Lady Broncs will take on regional rival, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the meet.  UTPA won the 1999 meet, which included Monterrey Tech.  The men’s race will be four miles, while the women’s race will be two miles in length.

Perla Rios and April Hipolito lead UTPA’s women’s squad.  Rios has finished in the top-15 of all five meets this season.  Hipolito is coming off her best finish of the season, a sixth place showing at the Southwest Texas State Short Course Meet.  She has two top 10 finishes so far this season.  Also making a strong impression on the team this season is Patty Villareal, a freshman from San Juan.  Villareal placed in the top-20 at the Southwest Texas State meet last week as well.

On the men’s side Danny Salazar leads a young squad, which has improved as the season has gone on.  Salazar is one of five different Broncs to place first on the team in a meet.  Salazar has been the first Bronc finisher in each of the last two meets.

This will be the third time this season that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTPA have raced against one another.  The Broncs and Lady Broncs competed in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Opening Splash on September 1st, the first-ever cross-country meet at TAMUCC.  The two teams also met at the Southwest Texas State Invitational on October 7th.

First year Head Coach Dan Laufer and assistant coach Gabriel Rodriguez are looking for a solid showing from the Bronc and Lady Bronc Harriers this Saturday.

Adrian Martinez, who was a member of the cross-country and track teams at UTPA, died in an automobile accident in the summer of 1995.  The meet is held annually in his memory.

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