Texas A&M hosts nine-team Aggieland Open this Friday on Watts course

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M cross country will host the Aggieland Open on Friday evening, a nine-team meet that will cover 5,000-meters in both races on the Dale Watts course. The women race at 5:45 p.m. with the men following at 6:15 p.m.

Teams scheduled to compete in the Aggieland Open include Baylor, Louisiana-Monroe, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston State, Tarleton State, Texas Southern, UT Arlington, and UTSA.

"It's really an opportunity for some of our kids to get another race in and get some racing experience," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "It's also an opportunity for those who are on the bubble of making a travel team to earn a spot.

"This is a weekend where we've had people step up in the meet and it's propelled them on, either in the same season or the next year, to bigger and better things."

Following the Aggieland Open, the team will travel to Alabama for the Crimson Classic on Oct. 13, and then prepare for the SEC Championships hosted by Georgia on Oct. 27.

Within the NCAA South Central region rankings the Aggie men are ranked third with the Aggie women ranked fifth. This season the Texas A&M men have claimed three team victories in three outings while the Aggie women have won two team titles in home meets and placed third in the SEC Preview meet.

"We're a developmental program," said McRaven. "The best kids we've had in our program, for the most part, have been kids who have come in with good credentials, but left here with great credentials. That's what we're all about.

"There are steps to take along the way and some people take those steps a little more quickly than others. For others, who make take a little longer in that progression, then this meet is a great opportunity for them to get better."

The Aggieland Open also offers a change of pace in the distance being run, moving away from the normal 6,000m (women) and 8,000m (men) courses teams normally race in competition.

"We decided during the summer to drop the distance down to 5,000m, just to give some of our younger kids a bit of a break from running longer races," said McRaven. "During the track season we never run the same distance week in and week out, so I feel it's odd in cross country that we sometimes get stuck running the same distance each time we race."

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