HOUSTON – Texas A&M returns to the Houston Baptist Invitational this Friday as a crew of Aggies will run on the St. Agnes Athletic Fields starting at 5 p.m. The A&M men, who won the HBU team title last season, will run on a 6,000-meter course while the Aggie women, the team runner-up last year, compete on a 5,000-meter course.
“It's a good chance for our developers to get a race in,” noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “We won't race all of our top kids as they prepare for the Wisconsin meet the following week.
“Our sport is developmental sport by nature. There are some young kids on our team who will not get a lot of opportunities to travel this year and this meet gives them an opportunity to compete and maybe earn a travel squad spot as well as prepare them for the future.”
In addition to the Aggies and host Huskies, the field at the Houston Baptist Invitational includes women's teams from Baylor and Rice as well as men's teams from Prairie View and Texas Southern.
“The competition in this meet may allow our runners to be better down the line,” said McRaven. “They'll see the right level of competition they need to see at this stage. Some athletes who competed in this meet a year ago are now regular travelers this season. Competing is good and we'll have some of our young kids compete just to get better at racing.”
The A&M men, with a 2-3-4-5-6 finish, totaled 20 points for the 2013 team title while the Aggie women scored 55 points to place second.
Aaron Murray, the fifth runner on the A&M squad last season who placed sixth among collegians at the HBU Invite, is part of the men's crew that includes Julian Castellano, Christian Farris, Brett Schmit, Colin Stoeber, Ryan Teel and Bobby Zeller.
Johanna Galloway led the women's team last season, placing seventh among collegians in the race, while returners among the Aggies scoring five include Ashley Chamberlain and Katie Pia, who were the fourth and fifth runners for A&M.
The women's team will also include Laura Craig, Haley Deakins, Melanie Enriquez, Lauren Fontana, Amelia McElhinney, Shelby McNeel, Devin Norton, Kelsey Persyn, Sara Shaw, Rachel Williams and Emily Willingham.
A loop of 1,000-meters enables coaches and spectators to see a majority of the race. The short loop also allows for more interaction between coaches and athletes during the race.
“This is a 1k course loop, so it takes spectator-friendly to an entirely different level,” McRaven said. “We can see the runners a lot on the course and give them feedback when needed. It's also easier to make mental notes for later.”