Sept. 16, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - To make up for the cancellation of the Texas A&M Invitational last week, the Aggie cross country team will compete in the Crimson Classic hosted by the University of Alabama on Saturday morning at the Harry Pritchett Running Course.
The men's race, covering 8,000 meters, will start the day off at 8:45 a.m. while the women's race, covering 5,000 meters, begins at 9:15 a.m.
Alabama men, ranked fifth nationally, will host a field that features SEC schools Auburn, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Alabama women, fifth in the South Region, headline a field that has SEC schools Auburn and Mississippi. Other schools in the meet include Alcorn State, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Nicholls State, Samford, Troy, Tulane and West Alabama.
Texas A&M will send a squad of 19 athletes, 10 men and nine women. The men's team includes Chad Brown, C.J. Brown, Jordan Chappell, Austin Geerts, Ryan Miller, MacLean O'Donnell, Nathan Parker, Jimmy Welin and Dylan Williams. The women's squad includes Sophie Blake, Itzel Cetina, Katherine Devlin, Caitlin Gilmore, Colbea Harris, Amanda Jenkins, Kasey McNorton, Natosha Rogers and Gabby Salazar.
Updated region rankings released this week had the Aggie men remaining in the No. 3 position among the South Central Region behind No. 1 Arkansas and No. 2 Texas. The A&M women were No. 6 in the region poll.
The Aggies opened the 2010 season with a meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the first weekend of September. Three A&M runners placed among the top 10 in the Lobo Invitational. O'Donnell led the men's team with a fifth-place finish while Devlin and Rogers placed sixth and eighth in the women's race.
A scheduled meet last weekend on Texas A&M's Penberthy Intramural Fields was canceled when rains from a tropical storm flooded the cross country course.