Aggies return to action as they host Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday

COLLEGE STATION – Aggie cross country returns to action this week with a home meet on Saturday morning on the Dale Watts course. The Texas A&M Invitational will begin at 8:15 a.m. with a men's 8,000-meter race followed by a women's 6,000-meter race at 9 a.m. A series of high school races will start at 9:30 a.m.

The Aggies enter their second meet of the season with the men ranked third and the women ranked sixth in the latest USTFCCCA South Central region rankings. Texas A&M finished fourth in this meet a year ago in both the men's and women's competition.

"We've had some good training and have been working hard since our last meet," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "We want to continue to perfect our racing routine. Our course typically runs pretty fast and we will have some decent competition.

"Hopefully, we will be challenged by a few teams and we can use this meet as a stepping stone as we head to bigger competitions with meets at Notre Dame and Wisconsin."

Collegiate teams competing in the Texas A&M Invitational include a pair of SEC squads in Kentucky and LSU while the Big 12 is represented by Baylor (women) and TCU.

The field also includes Central Arkansas, Houston, Houston Baptist, Lamar, Lipscomb (women), McNeese State, Midwestern State, Prairie View A&M, Rice, Sam Houston, Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Southern, Texas Wesleyan, UTSA.

In the women's region rankings, Rice and Baylor are currently third and fourth in the South Central with Houston eighth, Lamar 10^th and Central Arkansas 11^th. Kentucky ranks seventh in the Southeast region while Lipscomb is seventh in the South region.

Among the men's teams Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ranks eighth in the South Central region with McNeese State 10^th, Sam Houston 11^th, Lamar 12^th and Rice 13^th. Kentucky ranks ninth in the Southeast region.

Aggie All-American Karis Jochen returns as the defending individual women's winner from last season's meet when she held off a challenge by Abilene Christian's Alexandria Hackett to win the race by six seconds. Austin Wells led the Aggie men in placing sixth individually a year ago.

Jochen opened her senior season with a victory in the Aggie Opener, earning SEC Runner of the Week honors, while Cameron Villarreal claimed the men's title to defend his 2015 win.

Villarreal paced the Texas A&M men in four races last season. After winning the 2015 Aggie Opener, he posted top 10 individual finishes at Notre Dame (seventh), Alabama (seventh), and the SEC Championships (eighth). Including last year's Texas A&M Invitational, Wells also led the squad over the 10,000m distance during the NCAA South Central meet, finishing one place ahead of Villarreal.

"The team has looked good in training and they are working hard," said McRaven. "On the women's side we will add a few more people to the mix this week that we didn't race in the first meet. It will be interesting and fun to see where stack up with some of the younger runners this weekend."

Texas A&M Invitational – Saturday, September 24, 2016
8:15 a.m.            College Men – 8000m
9:00 a.m.            College Women – 6,000m
9:30 a.m.            High School Boys – 5,000m
10:00 a.m.          High School Girls – 5,000m
10:30 a.m.          JV Boys – 5,000m
11:00 a.m.          JV Girls – 5,000m

USTFCCCA REGION RANKINGS – Sept. 19, 2016

South Central - Men
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
4. Baylor
5. UT-Arlington
6. North Texas
7. Texas State
8. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
9. Stephen F. Austin
10. McNeese State
11. Sam Houston State
12. Lamar
13. Rice
14. Louisiana-Lafayette
15. LSU

South Central - Women
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. Rice
4. Baylor
5. SMU
6. Texas A&M
7. Stephen F. Austin
8. Houston
9. North Texas
10. Lamar
11. Central Arkansas
12. Tulane
13. LSU
14. TCU
15. UT-Arlington

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Players Mentioned

Karis Jochen

Cameron Villarreal

Austin Wells

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