Texas A&M
Wisconsin Invitational
Aggie men tie No. 10 Oregon for 14th at Wisconsin
Oct 14, 2011 | Cross Country
"I really thought it was a workman like effort," Aggie assistant coach Wendel McRaven said. "We haven't backed off training very much, plus we also had a long day of travel yesterday. It was a solid effort, but I think we still have better races in us."
Wisconsin men, ranked No. 2, won the men's team title with 66 points over No.6 BYU, who claimed runner-up with 120. No. 4 Stanford finished third with 125 points with No. 14 Princeton (227) and No. 7 Indiana (271) in fourth and fifth place.
The rest of the men's top 10 teams included unranked Texas (300), No. 17 Minnesota (309), No. 13 Northern Arizona (332), No. 24 Providence (343) and No. 19 Villanova (367).
Texas A&M's Henry Lelei covered the 8,000-meter course in 24 minutes, 16 seconds and placed 26th amid a field of 270 runners. Kevin Burnett finished in 24:34 to place 57th.
"I think I did good today and our team did very well," said Lelei. "Running into this type of wind was very hard, but it didn't affect just me since everybody had to run into it. Tying Oregon for 14th means a lot to us and I think we have some good things coming our way."
Another trio of Aggies in a tight group had James Hodges placing 117th in 24:54 as MacLean O'Donnell placed 120th in 24:56 followed by Stephen Curry in 128th with a 24:59 clocking. Rounding out the squad were Will Barry (179th - 25:24) and Isaac Spencer (223rd - 25:57).
In addition to tying Oregon, Texas A&M finished ahead of No. 23 Arizona State (16th), No. 18 Columbia (18th), No. 29 North Carolina (20th), No. 21 Syracuse (22nd), No. 16 Georgetown (24th), No. 25 New Mexico (28th), and No. 28 Florida (32nd).
"Across the board every guy probably thought they were a little flat," McRaven noted. "It's not the most important meet on our schedule, but it's the best field we will see all year. It's going to help us later that we beat some of these teams when we get into the postseason and we see how we far at the region meet."
Natosha Rogers contested her first 6,000-meter race of the season and led the Aggie women with a time of 21:12 to place 83rd among a field of 305 runners.
"I felt pretty good in this race and it felt good to be back," noted Rogers, who also raced her sister Alexa from Vanderbilt. "There was some rough patches today, but it went smoother than I expected. I just need to get back in the racing mode.
"I know what I need to do different the next time I race, which will be at the Big 12 Conference meet. We talked as a team and we have a plan for Big 12s."
The next A&M tandem finished 146th and 148th with the pair of Tara Upshaw (21:39) and Hillary Montgomery (21:40). Itzel Cetina (21:48) and Haley Parsons (21:49) completed the scoring portion for the Aggies by placing 180th and 181st. Katherine Devlin (190th - 21:54) and Shawn Dalglish (227th - 22:07) rounded out the squad.
The Aggie women placed 33rd with 738 points to finish behind Nebraska (715) and ahead of Kansas (773).
"It was a better performance for the women than what they did at Notre Dame," said McRaven. "It was great to have Natosha Rogers among our team and get her racing legs back under her. I think we are still learning to race, especially in a big field like this. It appears we are heading in the right direction."
Washington won the women's title with 199 points over the 211 scored by runner-up Vanderbilt. Arizona (230) finished third ahead of Villanova (232) and Stanford (256).
Texas A&M also had a group of runners in the B race. A trio of Aggies in the men's race finished together with Ryan Miller (25:43) leading Nathan Parker (25:44) and C.J. Brown (25:44) as they placed 27th-28th-29th in a field of 88 runners. Bobby Zeller (26:14) placed 55th with Dylan Williams (27:07) and Jake Roberts (27:11) finishing 75th and 77th.
In the women's B race the Aggie crew was led by Grace Fletcher, who placed 47th in a field of 108 with a time of 22:27. Kate Mohr (22:34) placed 52nd while Sophie Blake (23:10) finished 72nd.
Wisconsin Invitational Results
Men's Teams:
1. Wisconsin, 66; 2. BYU, 120; 3. Stanford, 125; 4. Princeton, 227; 5. Indiana, 271; 6. Texas, 300; 7. Minnesota, 309; 8. Northern Arizona, 332; 9. Providence, 343; 10. Villanova, 367; 11. North Carolina State, 374; 12. UCLA, 410; 13. Michigan, 414; 14. tie, Texas A&M and Oregon, 448; 16. Arizona State, 452; 17. Ohio State, 464; 18. Columbia, 475; 19. Notre Dame, 493; 20. North Carolina, 501;
21. Georgia, 531; 22. Syracuse, 540; 23. Kansas, 582; 24. Georgetown, 609; 25. California, 612; 26. Illinois, 619; 27. William & Mary, 626; 28. New Mexico, 629; 29. Iowa State, 638; 30. Air Force, 660; 31. Washington, 694; 32. tie, Florida and Lamar, 710; 34. Michigan State, 760; 35. Marquette, 856; 36. Arizona, 890; 37. Purdue, 976; 38. Nebraska, 1093; 39. Clemson, 1167.
Texas A&M men:
26. Henry Lelei, 24:16; 57. Kevin Burnett, 24:34; 117. James Hodges, 24:54: 120. MacLean O'Donnell, 24:56; 128. Stephen Curry, 24:59; 179. Will Barry, 25:42. 223. Isaac Spencer, 25:57.
Women's Teams:
1. Washington, 199; 2. Vanderbilt, 211; 3. Arizona, 230; 4. Villanova, 232; 5. Stanford, 256; 6. Syracuse, 273; 7. California, 331; 8. Oregon, 350; 9. tie, Iowa State & Michigan State, 362; 11. New Mexico, 375; 12. North Carolina State, 421; 13. Boston College, 435; 14. North Carolina, 454; 15. Notre Dame, 475; 16. Providence, 480; 17. San Francisco, 487; 18. Iowa, 489; 19. Florida, 506; 20. Minnesota, 520;
21. Wisconsin, 526; 22. BYU, 539; 23. Colorado State, 544; 24. Clemson, 559; 25. Providence, 586; 26. Arizona State, 593; 27. Columbia, 614; 28. Northern Arizona, 622; 29. Indiana, 656; 30. Stony Brook, 662; 31. Northwestern, 664; 32. Nebraska, 715; 33. Texas A&M, 738; 34. Kansas, 773; 35. Toledo, 843; 36. James Madison, 864; 37. Georgia, 883; 38. Ohio State, 898; 39. William & Mary, 918; 40. Harvard, 1021; 41. Air Force, 1042; 42. Purdue, 1170; 43. UCLA, 1171; 44. Illinois, 1197.
Texas A&M women:
83. Natosha Rogers, 21:12; 146. Tara Upshaw, 21:39; 148. Hillary Montgomery, 21:40; 180. Itzel Cetina, 21:48; 181. Haley Parsons, 21:49; 190. Katherine Devlin, 21:54; 227. Shawn Dalglish, 22:07.
Players Mentioned
