COLLEGE STATION – A&M junior Karis Jochen claimed the individual title at the Texas A&M Invitational cross country meet Saturday morning to lead the Aggies to a fourth-place team finish on the Dale Watts course. Jochen covered the 6,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 4.9 seconds and bettered the runner-up in the field of 147 runners by six seconds.
"I want to win on my home course, I always want to win on my home course," said Jochen. "The fans definitely helped me today. There were so many people here who have supported me over the years in the ups and downs of my running career.
"Seeing them here today I just wanted to win it for them. I owe it to them for their support and to myself for waking up early and working hard every day. I went for it today and I think I surprised myself and some other people as well."
The Texas A&M men also placed fourth in team scoring as Austin Wells led the Aggie crew with a sixth-place effort as he covered the 8,000-meter course in 23:42.9. The individual winner of the men's race was Houston's Brian Barraza, who bettered the field of 154 by three and half seconds with a time of 23:28.5.
"It was a solid day," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "I was really pleased with Karis' race and I thought Austin did a good job individually on the men's side.
"Team-wise on the men's side we felt we were ok, but we didn't run a particularly good race. We think we have more left in the tank. On the women's side, without Kelsie Warren, it was pretty solid. I think we will make up some ground and we tend to get better as the season goes on. We still have some work to do, but I thought we're off to a good start with our first 6k and 8k of the season."
Texas won both team titles with the men scoring 37 points ahead of North Texas (72) and Missouri (106) while the Longhorn women won with 87 points over Missouri (92) and Abilene Christian (107).
The Aggie men finished 10 points behind Missouri with 116 points, which had them 10 points ahead of Stephen F. Austin (126) in fifth place. Rounding out the top 10 in the men's race were Lamar (130), Houston (192), Texas-Arlington (193), McNeese State (245) and Houston Baptist (273).
A&M women scored 119 points and were 12 points behind Abilene Christian with a gap of 16 points to fifth place Stephen F. Austin (135). The rest of the top 10 included Rice (190), Lamar (206), Texas-Arlington (232), LSU (286) and North Texas (295).
"Today was a great setting," said McRaven. "The great thing about this meet is it's going to give us some insight in what we need to do to make the future meets on our course better. I couldn't ask for a better event than we had today with the crowd as well as the teams competing on the college and high school level."
An early pack through 2km had Jochen leading the women's race with a contingent of Longhorns as well as the lead runner for Abilene Christian, Missouri, LSU and UT-Arlington. By 4km Jochen had pulled ahead of the field by 30 meters.
Alexandria Hackett of Abilene Christian managed to close the gap and she passed Jochen, who accepted the challenge over the final stages of the race. Jochen kicked past Hackett in the last 100m to claim the victory in front of family and friends.
Hackett clocked 20:11.1 as runner-up with Lamar's Verity Ockenden placing third in 20:34.5. Rounding out the top five were Cali Roper of Rice (20:35.9) and Abilene Christian's Diana Garcia-Munoz (20:38.4).
"I wasn't worried about staying with the pack," explained Jochen. "I didn't want to lead the race for too long of a distance, but I also wasn't going to hold back if the pack started to slow down. The tentative plan was to make a move at 3km if I felt good. If not, I had no problem waiting until 4km to make a move.
"After 3km I pulled away along with the ACU runner. I never felt like I made a move, though, I just kept going and the ACU runner fell off pace a bit. I was hearing I had a 30m lead on her, but then all of a sudden she was passing me. So, I kind of looked at the fans saying where was the warning here."
Jochen's time of 20:04.9 is her best effort over 6,000 meters in cross country, topping the 20:38.0 she posted at Wisconsin a year ago and the 20:08.8 she recorded at the SEC Championships on a course that was just shy of 6,000m.
"I kept telling people this course is going to run fast and I think people were blown away by how fast some of the times were," stated McRaven. "To develop a lead, get caught and then to kick strong at the finish is a really good sign for Karis."
Arin Rice placed 17th as the second A&M finisher, posting a time of 21:08.1, while Kelsey Persyn (33rd – 21:40.0), Haley Deakins (35th-21:49.9) and Katie Pia (36th-21:42.0) were rounded out the first five Aggies.
Behind Barraza's winning effort in the men's race, SFA's Charles Mathenge (23:31.9) finished second with Brady Turnbull of Texas (23:36.1) third. Also finishing in the top five were Lamar's Illass Aouani (23:37.7) and Troy Taylor of North Texas (23:41.0).
Wells, who had an impressive improvement from his previous 8k best of 25:31.0 in Wisconsin last year, was just two seconds behind early leader Mathenge at 6,600 meters amid a pack of 10.
"It was a pretty good race, but we definitely want to improve on this effort," noted Wells. "It was a pretty good team outing, but we can do better. I felt great today. The pace was fast at the beginning and it kept rolling to the end. While we wanted to finish better as a team, it's a good baseline start for us. It's nice to see where we stack up in our region facing this many teams on our home course."
Alex Riba was the second A&M finisher for the men, placing 20th with a time of 24:17.4, while Juan Uribe ran 24:24.7 to finish 24th. Christian Farris (33rd-24:37.0) and Cameron Villarreal (37th-24:40.5) rounded out the Aggies top five.
"Austin's a legit distance runner, having run 29:09 on the track in the 10k, so he should be running with the lead group," stated McRaven. "He's not pleased with his finish as he wants to beat those guys. But it was a good race for his first 8k of the season. Cameron's been sick this week and he should be our 1 or 2 in most races."
Also running for the A&M women were Kaitlin Tanner (38th-21:43.9), Devin Norton (44th-21:51.6), Hannah Campbell (46th-21:53.8), Laura Craig (47th-21:56.7), Lauren Fontana (51st-22:05.0), Emily Willingham (53rd-22:06.3), Katie Watson (78th-22:43.2), Shelby McNeel (96th-23:11.2), Rachel Williams (105th-23:22.6), and Lizette Chapa (112th-23:33.9).
The rest of the Aggie men's crew included Aaron Murray (44th-24:51.2), Julian Castellano (47th-24:54.0), Colin Stoeber (48th-24:55.8), Jacob Perry (53rd-24:59.5), Ryan Teel (56th-25:02.3), Eli Canal (59th-25:04.9), Zach Martin (78th-25:17.9), Elliott Farris (81st-25:26.3), Jake Bootz (84th-25:29.1), Taylor Clayton (87th-25:33.3), and Chandler Heikkila (92nd-25:49.3).
Texas A&M Invitational – Dale Watts Cross Country course
Team Results
Men: 1. Texas, 37; 2. North Texas, 72; 3. Missouri, 106; 4. Texas A&M, 116; 5. SFA, 126; 6. Lamar, 130; 7. Houston, 192; 8. UTA, 193; 9. McNeese State, 245; 10. Houston Baptist, 273; 11. Central Arkansas, 308; 12. LSU, 347; 13. Louisiana-Lafayette, 397; 14. TCU, 413; 15. Abilene Christian, 422; 16. UT Rio Grande Valley, 438.
Women: 1. Texas, 87; 2. Missouri, 92; 3. Abilene Christian, 107; 4. Texas A&M, 119; 5. SFA, 135; 6. Rice, 190; 7. Lamar, 206; 8. UTA, 232; 9. LSU, 286; 10. McNeese State, 295; 11. North Texas, 295; 12. Houston, 299; 13. TCU, 308; 14. Central Arkansas, 342; 15. UT Rio Grande Valley 368; 16. Louisiana-Lafayette, 379.
"I want to win on my home course, I always want to win on my home course," said Jochen. "The fans definitely helped me today. There were so many people here who have supported me over the years in the ups and downs of my running career.
"Seeing them here today I just wanted to win it for them. I owe it to them for their support and to myself for waking up early and working hard every day. I went for it today and I think I surprised myself and some other people as well."
The Texas A&M men also placed fourth in team scoring as Austin Wells led the Aggie crew with a sixth-place effort as he covered the 8,000-meter course in 23:42.9. The individual winner of the men's race was Houston's Brian Barraza, who bettered the field of 154 by three and half seconds with a time of 23:28.5.
"It was a solid day," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "I was really pleased with Karis' race and I thought Austin did a good job individually on the men's side.
"Team-wise on the men's side we felt we were ok, but we didn't run a particularly good race. We think we have more left in the tank. On the women's side, without Kelsie Warren, it was pretty solid. I think we will make up some ground and we tend to get better as the season goes on. We still have some work to do, but I thought we're off to a good start with our first 6k and 8k of the season."
Texas won both team titles with the men scoring 37 points ahead of North Texas (72) and Missouri (106) while the Longhorn women won with 87 points over Missouri (92) and Abilene Christian (107).
The Aggie men finished 10 points behind Missouri with 116 points, which had them 10 points ahead of Stephen F. Austin (126) in fifth place. Rounding out the top 10 in the men's race were Lamar (130), Houston (192), Texas-Arlington (193), McNeese State (245) and Houston Baptist (273).
A&M women scored 119 points and were 12 points behind Abilene Christian with a gap of 16 points to fifth place Stephen F. Austin (135). The rest of the top 10 included Rice (190), Lamar (206), Texas-Arlington (232), LSU (286) and North Texas (295).
"Today was a great setting," said McRaven. "The great thing about this meet is it's going to give us some insight in what we need to do to make the future meets on our course better. I couldn't ask for a better event than we had today with the crowd as well as the teams competing on the college and high school level."
An early pack through 2km had Jochen leading the women's race with a contingent of Longhorns as well as the lead runner for Abilene Christian, Missouri, LSU and UT-Arlington. By 4km Jochen had pulled ahead of the field by 30 meters.
Alexandria Hackett of Abilene Christian managed to close the gap and she passed Jochen, who accepted the challenge over the final stages of the race. Jochen kicked past Hackett in the last 100m to claim the victory in front of family and friends.
Hackett clocked 20:11.1 as runner-up with Lamar's Verity Ockenden placing third in 20:34.5. Rounding out the top five were Cali Roper of Rice (20:35.9) and Abilene Christian's Diana Garcia-Munoz (20:38.4).
"I wasn't worried about staying with the pack," explained Jochen. "I didn't want to lead the race for too long of a distance, but I also wasn't going to hold back if the pack started to slow down. The tentative plan was to make a move at 3km if I felt good. If not, I had no problem waiting until 4km to make a move.
"After 3km I pulled away along with the ACU runner. I never felt like I made a move, though, I just kept going and the ACU runner fell off pace a bit. I was hearing I had a 30m lead on her, but then all of a sudden she was passing me. So, I kind of looked at the fans saying where was the warning here."
Jochen's time of 20:04.9 is her best effort over 6,000 meters in cross country, topping the 20:38.0 she posted at Wisconsin a year ago and the 20:08.8 she recorded at the SEC Championships on a course that was just shy of 6,000m.
"I kept telling people this course is going to run fast and I think people were blown away by how fast some of the times were," stated McRaven. "To develop a lead, get caught and then to kick strong at the finish is a really good sign for Karis."
Arin Rice placed 17th as the second A&M finisher, posting a time of 21:08.1, while Kelsey Persyn (33rd – 21:40.0), Haley Deakins (35th-21:49.9) and Katie Pia (36th-21:42.0) were rounded out the first five Aggies.
Behind Barraza's winning effort in the men's race, SFA's Charles Mathenge (23:31.9) finished second with Brady Turnbull of Texas (23:36.1) third. Also finishing in the top five were Lamar's Illass Aouani (23:37.7) and Troy Taylor of North Texas (23:41.0).
Wells, who had an impressive improvement from his previous 8k best of 25:31.0 in Wisconsin last year, was just two seconds behind early leader Mathenge at 6,600 meters amid a pack of 10.
"It was a pretty good race, but we definitely want to improve on this effort," noted Wells. "It was a pretty good team outing, but we can do better. I felt great today. The pace was fast at the beginning and it kept rolling to the end. While we wanted to finish better as a team, it's a good baseline start for us. It's nice to see where we stack up in our region facing this many teams on our home course."
Alex Riba was the second A&M finisher for the men, placing 20th with a time of 24:17.4, while Juan Uribe ran 24:24.7 to finish 24th. Christian Farris (33rd-24:37.0) and Cameron Villarreal (37th-24:40.5) rounded out the Aggies top five.
"Austin's a legit distance runner, having run 29:09 on the track in the 10k, so he should be running with the lead group," stated McRaven. "He's not pleased with his finish as he wants to beat those guys. But it was a good race for his first 8k of the season. Cameron's been sick this week and he should be our 1 or 2 in most races."
Also running for the A&M women were Kaitlin Tanner (38th-21:43.9), Devin Norton (44th-21:51.6), Hannah Campbell (46th-21:53.8), Laura Craig (47th-21:56.7), Lauren Fontana (51st-22:05.0), Emily Willingham (53rd-22:06.3), Katie Watson (78th-22:43.2), Shelby McNeel (96th-23:11.2), Rachel Williams (105th-23:22.6), and Lizette Chapa (112th-23:33.9).
The rest of the Aggie men's crew included Aaron Murray (44th-24:51.2), Julian Castellano (47th-24:54.0), Colin Stoeber (48th-24:55.8), Jacob Perry (53rd-24:59.5), Ryan Teel (56th-25:02.3), Eli Canal (59th-25:04.9), Zach Martin (78th-25:17.9), Elliott Farris (81st-25:26.3), Jake Bootz (84th-25:29.1), Taylor Clayton (87th-25:33.3), and Chandler Heikkila (92nd-25:49.3).
Texas A&M Invitational – Dale Watts Cross Country course
Team Results
Men: 1. Texas, 37; 2. North Texas, 72; 3. Missouri, 106; 4. Texas A&M, 116; 5. SFA, 126; 6. Lamar, 130; 7. Houston, 192; 8. UTA, 193; 9. McNeese State, 245; 10. Houston Baptist, 273; 11. Central Arkansas, 308; 12. LSU, 347; 13. Louisiana-Lafayette, 397; 14. TCU, 413; 15. Abilene Christian, 422; 16. UT Rio Grande Valley, 438.
Women: 1. Texas, 87; 2. Missouri, 92; 3. Abilene Christian, 107; 4. Texas A&M, 119; 5. SFA, 135; 6. Rice, 190; 7. Lamar, 206; 8. UTA, 232; 9. LSU, 286; 10. McNeese State, 295; 11. North Texas, 295; 12. Houston, 299; 13. TCU, 308; 14. Central Arkansas, 342; 15. UT Rio Grande Valley 368; 16. Louisiana-Lafayette, 379.