By BRET H. MCCORMICK

Associate Sports Editor

In a meet that featured six of the top 15 teams in the latest South Central Regional Cross Country Poll, Tech finished second behind only host Sam Houston at the Sam Houston State University Invitational in Huntsville, Texas, Friday afternoon.

Tech senior Carlos Arrizon led all Bulldog runners with a fourth-place finish and a time of 27-minutes, 52-seconds on the five-mile course in Huntsville.

A trio of Bulldog runners ran impressively and finished 12th-14th. Karoly Varga came in at 28:06, Dustin Wiltcher at 28:08 and Stefan Malmqvist finished in 28:11.

The two seniors (Varga and Malmqvist) and sophomore have continually improved throughout the season, leading head coach Gary Stanley's squad up the list of the regional rankings.

Senior Gearie Smith continued his successful final campaign, finishing in 20th position with a time of 28:22.

Sam Houston, who was ranked seventh and took the team title with 40 points, had the top three finishers in the race.

Raul Villareal ran away with the title, finishing in 27:16. Jose Umanzor and Joe Amburn followed at 27:49 and 27:51, respectively.

The Bulldogs, currently in a tie for 11th place in the regional rankings, finished second with 63 points.

McNeese (No. 15), Tulane (No. 10) and Texas (No. 3) rounded out the top five with 105, 132 and 155 points.

North Texas (163), Texas State-San Marcos (168), Northwestern (197), No. 5 Stephen F. Austin (200), Lamar (221), Nicholls State (286) and Prairie View A&M (323) rounded out the field.

Freshmen Jeremy Cobb (49th at 28:53), Justin Schroeder (76th at 30:40) and Morgan Smith (85th at 31:35) also competed in the race for the Bulldogs.

Tech will take a break for the rest of the season and return to action Nov. 1 for the Western Athletic Conference Championships in San Jose, Calif.