COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M's first cross country meet of the 2017 season will have the Aggies hosting six schools on Friday, September 1, on the Dale Watts course. The women will race over a 4,100m course starting at 6:45 p.m. with the men's competing over a distance of 6,000m starting at 7:15 p.m.
The Watts course is located within the Hildebrand Equine Complex at 3242 F and B Road. The facility is accessible from F and B Road off the corner intersection with 2818.
"Surprisingly, the course is in good shape," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "I wasn't as optimistic on Monday morning based on how much rain we received since last Friday. Right now it's in really good shape. We've run meets on it before in worst shape than it currently is. It's amazing to see how well it's handled the water."
Schools scheduled to compete in team scored Aggie Opener include Texas, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, UTSA, Incarnate Word, and UT Rio Grande Valley.
"Everybody coming here is using the meet in the same way, to see where their teams are to start the season," said McRaven. "It's a good starting point for us and will give us some feedback to where we are at with this group of runners. Especially the kids who have run this meet the past couple of years, they can look back and compare their results.
"It's always good to run on our home course, especially since it's a place where we will run the NCAA regional meet this season."
Preseason rankings for the South Central region have the Texas men at No. 2 behind Arkansas with UT-Arlington, Texas A&M and Baylor among the top five. Ranked from sixth to 10th in the region are Lamar, Rice, Texas State, North Texas and Tulane.
On the women's side the top five schools include Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Texas, Baylor, and SMU. The next five in the region are TCU, Rice, Texas A&M, Stephen F. Austin and Tulane.
The Aggies will have a crew of 30 athletes racing on Friday with 18 women and 12 men in competition.
"The key for us on Friday is having people work together in the race," said McRaven. "The expectation from the upper classmen is to provide some leadership in that team dynamic. I've challenged both the men and women this season to continue to grow into being a team and running for one another. This kind of early season meet gives us a chance to work on some of those dynamics."
Seniors Christian Farris and Alex Riba lead the Texas A&M men's squad, which will also include Jon Bishop, Johnathon Blaine, Taylor Clayton, Sam Erickson, Nicko Enochs, Raymond Gonzales, Zach Martin, Jacob Perry, Brandt Preston, and Juan Uribe.
Senior Kelsey Persyn leads the Aggie women and will be joined by Olivia Arriaza, Lauryn Barrientos, Valerie Bradley, Hannah Campbell, Lizette Chapa, Ashley Driscoll, Ashton Hutcherson, Nicky Keys, Shelby McNeel, Morgan Michals, Erica Moorhead, Michelle Myers, Sarah Odneal, Kylie Purifoy, Audrey Spitz, Kaitlin Tanner and Maddie Vondra.
The Watts course is located within the Hildebrand Equine Complex at 3242 F and B Road. The facility is accessible from F and B Road off the corner intersection with 2818.
"Surprisingly, the course is in good shape," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "I wasn't as optimistic on Monday morning based on how much rain we received since last Friday. Right now it's in really good shape. We've run meets on it before in worst shape than it currently is. It's amazing to see how well it's handled the water."
Schools scheduled to compete in team scored Aggie Opener include Texas, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, UTSA, Incarnate Word, and UT Rio Grande Valley.
"Everybody coming here is using the meet in the same way, to see where their teams are to start the season," said McRaven. "It's a good starting point for us and will give us some feedback to where we are at with this group of runners. Especially the kids who have run this meet the past couple of years, they can look back and compare their results.
"It's always good to run on our home course, especially since it's a place where we will run the NCAA regional meet this season."
Preseason rankings for the South Central region have the Texas men at No. 2 behind Arkansas with UT-Arlington, Texas A&M and Baylor among the top five. Ranked from sixth to 10th in the region are Lamar, Rice, Texas State, North Texas and Tulane.
On the women's side the top five schools include Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Texas, Baylor, and SMU. The next five in the region are TCU, Rice, Texas A&M, Stephen F. Austin and Tulane.
The Aggies will have a crew of 30 athletes racing on Friday with 18 women and 12 men in competition.
"The key for us on Friday is having people work together in the race," said McRaven. "The expectation from the upper classmen is to provide some leadership in that team dynamic. I've challenged both the men and women this season to continue to grow into being a team and running for one another. This kind of early season meet gives us a chance to work on some of those dynamics."
Seniors Christian Farris and Alex Riba lead the Texas A&M men's squad, which will also include Jon Bishop, Johnathon Blaine, Taylor Clayton, Sam Erickson, Nicko Enochs, Raymond Gonzales, Zach Martin, Jacob Perry, Brandt Preston, and Juan Uribe.
Senior Kelsey Persyn leads the Aggie women and will be joined by Olivia Arriaza, Lauryn Barrientos, Valerie Bradley, Hannah Campbell, Lizette Chapa, Ashley Driscoll, Ashton Hutcherson, Nicky Keys, Shelby McNeel, Morgan Michals, Erica Moorhead, Michelle Myers, Sarah Odneal, Kylie Purifoy, Audrey Spitz, Kaitlin Tanner and Maddie Vondra.