Aggies contend for NCAA Championship berths in South Central region meet

Friday, November 11

Fayetteville, Ark.

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

NCAA South Central Regional

Nov 09, 2016 | Cross Country

Women's course map Men's course map South Central Region box draw South Central Region women entries South Central Region men entries

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Texas A&M cross country returns to Agri Park this week for the NCAA South Central Region meet, hosted by the University of Arkansas on Friday, as the Aggies contend for berths into the NCAA Championship field.

Each school will compete with seven runners in the region meet, with the top five finishers compiling the team score. The top two teams earn automatic qualification into the NCAA Championships while the top four individuals not associated with a qualifying team also earn entry in the national meet.

The women will race over a 6,000-meter course beginning at 11 a.m. while the men move up to a 10,000-meter distance with a start time of noon. Live results from the meet will be available at http://www.flashresults.com/2017_Meets/xc/NCAASC/.

"We want to race intelligently, and race aggressively while being patient when we need to," said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "On neither side were we satisfied with the race we had on this course at the SEC meet. It was a rough day for us.

"Since then the spirit of the group has rebounded and we've worked well. We've done the things we're supposed to do without trying to over compensate. We've done plenty of hard work during the season to be ready for this meet."

Texas A&M senior Karis Jochen seeks a return trip to the NCAA Championships after garnering All-American honors last season by placing 36^th. Jochen finished fourth in the region race a year ago, on the Aggie home course, and is one of the top returners.

The women's region field also includes Baylor's Maggie Montoya and Rice's Cali Roper, who placed second and third in 2015. Another challenger is Devin Clark of Arkansas, a recent SEC runner-up who didn't compete in the region meet last season, but finished 48^th in the NCAA Championship race as a freshman. Roper placed 56^th and Montoya finished 88^th in the national championship meet a year ago.

"Karis has been there before and she licked her wounds a little bit after the SEC meet," noted McRaven. "She's raced well on this course before during regionals and should find herself up in the top group individually. We also have some men who are capable of putting themselves in a spot to make a difference as well."

Arkansas women, ranked seventh nationally, will be favored to claim a sixth consecutive South Central team title. Two more nationally ranked squads in the region include No. 25 Baylor and No. 29 SMU. In the region rankings Arkansas leads the field and is followed by SMU, Baylor, Rice and Texas in the top five. The Aggie women are ranked eighth.

Arkansas men, ranked sixth nationally, have claimed the past three South Central team titles with Texas earning the runner-up position over the past three years. Texas A&M men, who finished third in 2015, seek to rebound from their SEC performance and contend for one of the top two region places.

Region rankings heading into the meet for the men have Arkansas leading Texas and Texas A&M with Lamar and UT Arlington rounding out the top five.

"On the men's side they know what they need to do," said McRaven. "The goal is to get to nationals, which was our goal last season when we finished third in the regional. We want to improve on that and we add Alex Riba to the line-up this week.

"The guys really just have to relax and do what they're capable of doing. If we can do that then I think we should be in a battle to get to get nationals.

In finishing third last year, the Aggie men placed three runners among the top 14 finishers. Austin Wells led the squad over the 10km distance, running 30:24.3 to place 11^th. Cameron Villarreal (30:28.1) and Christian Farris (30:31.7) followed in 12^th and 14^th place. The Aggie men's travel squad also includes Jon Bishop, Elliott Farris, Jacob Perry, Alex Riba, and Ryan Teel.

The leading trio from Texas A&M are among the top seven returning runners from the 2015 region race. The top returner is Frankline Tonui of Arkansas, who finished fourth a year ago and was recently fifth in the SEC meet.

Others among the top group of returning runners from the 2015 region meet include SFA's Charles Mathenge, who placed eighth last season and won the Southland title this year; Isaac Lalang of Arkansas-Little Rock, ninth a year ago and 17^th this season in the Sun Belt meet; and Jack Bruce of Arkansas, 13^th in 2015 and recently fourth in the SEC.

A trio of runners who are contenders, but didn't race in the region meet last season, include SEC champion Alex George of Arkansas; Robert Uhr of Texas, who placed 13^th in the Big 12; and UT Arlington's Craig Lautenslager, the winner of the Sun Belt title.

While Jochen led the Texas A&M women with a fourth-place effort a year ago, the next pair of Aggie finishers from last season who return include Katie Watson (49^th) and Haley Deakins (50^th). The women's travel squad to the region meet also includes Laura Craig, Ashley Driscoll, Devin Norton, Arin Rice, and Kelsie Warren.