TUSCALOOSA – In its final meet before hosting the SEC Championships at the end of this month, the Aggies travel to the Harry Pritchett Running Park, the site of the 2014 SEC meet, to compete in the Crimson Classic hosted by Alabama on Friday, Oct. 16.
With a field of 35 schools the Crimson Classic features two nationally ranked women's teams – No. 28 Oklahoma State and No. 30 Alabama – along with one nationally ranked men's squad in No. 6 Oklahoma State.
"It will be good competition and a good test for us," said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "We can see if we have progressed from the Notre Dame meet and it will be a good launching point for us in getting ready for the SEC meet.
"This meet will provide us opportunity to see some good teams. Oklahoma State is a top 10 nationally ranked team on the men's side and there are two women's teams in the top 30. We will also see some teams from the SEC."
Twenty of the teams in the meet are ranked regionally from the South and South Central regions. The Aggies, with the men No. 4 and the women No. 5 in the South Central region, will also face six programs from the SEC in Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State (men), Mississippi (women), and Vanderbilt (men).
With a 5 p.m. start the women will race over a 5,000-meter distance while the men begin at 5:30 p.m. and cover an 8,000-meter course.
"Some of the guys and a handful of girls saw the course last year," noted McRaven. "The women's race will be 5k this week instead of the 6k they ran in the conference race a year ago. It will give us an idea of where we are at this point of the season. For the one's seeing the course for the first time the others can pass along information on different aspects of the course."
The Aggie men will have nine runners in the field. The group includes Christian Farris, Elliott Farris, Aaron Murray, Alex Riba, Colin Stoeber, Ryan Teel, Juan Uribe, Cameron Villarreal and Austin Wells.
In the 2014 SEC race Villarreal (25:39.0), Wells (25:40.7) and Teel (25:53.0) finished as the third, fourth and sixth runners for A&M. Also competing on the course a year ago were C. Farris and E. Farris as the seventh and ninth finishers for the Aggies.
With a crew of 11 runners the A&M women's team includes Hannah Campbell, Laura Craig, Haley Deakins, Lauren Fontana, Karis Jochen, Kelsey Persyn, Katie Pia, Arin Rice, Kaitlin Tanner, Katie Watson and Emily Willingham.
Running at a longer distance of 6,000 meters in the SEC meet last season Jochen posted a time of 20:08.8 as the second A&M finisher. Also racing on the course were Deakins, Craig, and Pia as the fourth, fifth and seventh Aggie runners.
"This will also be a significant bigger meet in the number of teams competing than we faced at the conference meet on this course," stated McRaven. "That will change the dynamic a little bit.
"We changed up our schedule from the past couple of years for this weekend. We still wanted to go a big meet with good competition, but we also wanted to keep training like we want to train in order to get ready for the end of the season without backing off too much."
Texas A&M will host the SEC Championships on Friday, Oct. 30 on the Dale Watts Cross Country course.
Crimson Classic – 35 Schools Competing – Region, National rankings
School Men Women Region National ranking
Alabama 9 2 South Women No. 30
Alabama A&M South
Alabama State South
Auburn 7 7 South
Belmont 15 11 South
Florida State 3 5 South
Houston Baptist 11 South Central
Lipscomb 8 3 South
Louisiana Tech South Central
Loyola-New Orleans (NAIA)
LSU 12 South Central
McNeese State 9 13 South Central
Memphis South
Meridian CC (NJCAA)
Mississippi St. (m) 14 South
Mississippi (w) 6 South
Montevallo (NCAA II)
North Florida 12 South
Oklahoma State 1 3 Midwest Men No. 6, Women No. 28
Sam Houston St. 12 South Central
Samford 10 South
Shorter (NCAA II)
South Alabama 13 South
Southern Illinois 15 Midwest
Southern Miss (w) 13 South
Tennessee Tech South
Texas A&M 4 5 South Central
Texas Wesleyan (NAIA)
UT-Arlington 8 9 South Central
UT Rio Grande Valley South Central
Troy South
UAB (w) South
UL-Monroe South Central
Vanderbilt (m) South
West Georgia (NCAA II)
With a field of 35 schools the Crimson Classic features two nationally ranked women's teams – No. 28 Oklahoma State and No. 30 Alabama – along with one nationally ranked men's squad in No. 6 Oklahoma State.
"It will be good competition and a good test for us," said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "We can see if we have progressed from the Notre Dame meet and it will be a good launching point for us in getting ready for the SEC meet.
"This meet will provide us opportunity to see some good teams. Oklahoma State is a top 10 nationally ranked team on the men's side and there are two women's teams in the top 30. We will also see some teams from the SEC."
Twenty of the teams in the meet are ranked regionally from the South and South Central regions. The Aggies, with the men No. 4 and the women No. 5 in the South Central region, will also face six programs from the SEC in Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State (men), Mississippi (women), and Vanderbilt (men).
With a 5 p.m. start the women will race over a 5,000-meter distance while the men begin at 5:30 p.m. and cover an 8,000-meter course.
"Some of the guys and a handful of girls saw the course last year," noted McRaven. "The women's race will be 5k this week instead of the 6k they ran in the conference race a year ago. It will give us an idea of where we are at this point of the season. For the one's seeing the course for the first time the others can pass along information on different aspects of the course."
The Aggie men will have nine runners in the field. The group includes Christian Farris, Elliott Farris, Aaron Murray, Alex Riba, Colin Stoeber, Ryan Teel, Juan Uribe, Cameron Villarreal and Austin Wells.
In the 2014 SEC race Villarreal (25:39.0), Wells (25:40.7) and Teel (25:53.0) finished as the third, fourth and sixth runners for A&M. Also competing on the course a year ago were C. Farris and E. Farris as the seventh and ninth finishers for the Aggies.
With a crew of 11 runners the A&M women's team includes Hannah Campbell, Laura Craig, Haley Deakins, Lauren Fontana, Karis Jochen, Kelsey Persyn, Katie Pia, Arin Rice, Kaitlin Tanner, Katie Watson and Emily Willingham.
Running at a longer distance of 6,000 meters in the SEC meet last season Jochen posted a time of 20:08.8 as the second A&M finisher. Also racing on the course were Deakins, Craig, and Pia as the fourth, fifth and seventh Aggie runners.
"This will also be a significant bigger meet in the number of teams competing than we faced at the conference meet on this course," stated McRaven. "That will change the dynamic a little bit.
"We changed up our schedule from the past couple of years for this weekend. We still wanted to go a big meet with good competition, but we also wanted to keep training like we want to train in order to get ready for the end of the season without backing off too much."
Texas A&M will host the SEC Championships on Friday, Oct. 30 on the Dale Watts Cross Country course.
Crimson Classic – 35 Schools Competing – Region, National rankings
School Men Women Region National ranking
Alabama 9 2 South Women No. 30
Alabama A&M South
Alabama State South
Auburn 7 7 South
Belmont 15 11 South
Florida State 3 5 South
Houston Baptist 11 South Central
Lipscomb 8 3 South
Louisiana Tech South Central
Loyola-New Orleans (NAIA)
LSU 12 South Central
McNeese State 9 13 South Central
Memphis South
Meridian CC (NJCAA)
Mississippi St. (m) 14 South
Mississippi (w) 6 South
Montevallo (NCAA II)
North Florida 12 South
Oklahoma State 1 3 Midwest Men No. 6, Women No. 28
Sam Houston St. 12 South Central
Samford 10 South
Shorter (NCAA II)
South Alabama 13 South
Southern Illinois 15 Midwest
Southern Miss (w) 13 South
Tennessee Tech South
Texas A&M 4 5 South Central
Texas Wesleyan (NAIA)
UT-Arlington 8 9 South Central
UT Rio Grande Valley South Central
Troy South
UAB (w) South
UL-Monroe South Central
Vanderbilt (m) South
West Georgia (NCAA II)