Sept. 2, 2009
Waco - Texas A&M will begin its 2009 season with the Bear Invitational hosted by Baylor on Friday evening. It will be the first of six meets the Aggies will contest this fall, including the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 12.
The Aggies will have a crew of 13 men and 14 women racing on the Baylor Intramural Fields. A 4,000-meter women's race starts at 6:30 p.m. with a men's 6,000-meter race to follow.
Graham Northcutt, a member of A&M's South Central Region championship team from last season, will headline the squad this weekend along with Matt Ross. Two other members of the 2008 Region title team, Mitch Bible and Joe Sauvageau, will open the season at the Texas A&M Invitational.
Christina Munoz and Sarah Balfour, both of whom have qualified individually for the NCAA Championship field in previous seasons, lead the women's squad this season. Balfour will open at the Bear Invitational while Munoz begins her season at the A&M Invitational.
Also competing for the Texas A&M men this Friday will be Michael Castro, Raul Cetina, Stephen Curry, Eric Gosset, Ryan Snapp, George Stredny and Jeremy Warren.
The women's squad will also include Kirsten Brown, Itzel Cetina, Lexi Crommett, Shawn Dalglish, Katherine Devlin, Emilie Fischer, Amanda Jenkins, Natosha Rogers, Kristen Stone, Tara Upshaw, Amber Weems and Catherine Wright.
After opening in Waco this weekend and hosting its only home meet the following Saturday, Texas A&M will travel out of state in October with a trip to Madison, Wisconsin for a NCAA Interregional meet hosted by Wisconsin on Oct. 3. Then the Aggies travel to Charlottesville, Virginia for the Panorama Farms Invitational hosted by Virginia on Oct. 16.
The Big 12 Championships, held on Oct. 31, will be hosted by Missouri. Then a return visit to Waco on Nov. 14 will have A&M competing in the NCAA South Central Region, where the A&M men are the defending team champions. The NCAA Championships will be held in Terre Haute, Indiana on Nov. 23.