Saturday, November 18
Louisville, Ky.
9 a.m.
Texas A&M
at
NCAA Championships
NCAA Cross Country Championship field will include pair of Aggies
Nov 16, 2017 | Cross Country
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The final collegiate meet of the cross country season will include Texas A&M senior Christian Farris and sophomore Jon Bishop in action as the Aggie pair compete in the 79th NCAA Championships held Saturday, November 18, at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park and hosted by the University of Louisville.
In addition to 31 teams qualifying for the NCAA Championships, there are 38 individuals among the field of 255 athletes in the men's 10,000-meter race. The top 40 finishers will earn All-American honors.
The women's 6,000m race starts at 10:45 a.m. (ET), followed by the men's race at 11:45 a.m. Coverage of the meet is available on Flotrack, which involves a subscription fee, at the following link - http://bit.ly/2jqGr7D.
"When we first recruited him, we felt that Jon was a guy who has some great talent at the mile and we still do," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "But he ran a good 10k at the region meet and qualified for the national championship as a sophomore. That's big time for him. It's a confidence builder and it's something he is really going to be able to use to advance his career right now.
"The same for Christian, he's a guy who just keeps working and working. As a senior he's worked hard for years and to top off his cross country career by qualifying for nationals it's a great thing for him. It's fun to watch a guy like that come up through the ranks and be successful at the end."
The two Aggies advanced to the national championship meet from a region meet that was held on Texas A&M's home venue – the Dale Watts cross country course – which will again serve as host for the South Central Region in 2018 and 2020.
"Our own home cross country course is probably as good of a course as there is in the United States," said Henry. "To be able to train out there and know how to run the course is something they used last weekend to their advantage."
This marks the fourth time under Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven in which the Aggies have advanced two runners in the same season to the national championship meet since 2012, which is the last time a pair of Texas A&M runners advanced on the men's side.
"It was exciting, both of those guys ran really well and executed the race plan," stated McRaven. "For Jon, I would definitely call it a breakthrough for him. He kind of took it to another level. It was probably the best cross country race of his career.
"Christian has been right there for the last couple of years, made that breakthrough and put himself in a great position to qualify for nationals."
With 41 starting boxes in Louisville, Farris and Bishop will begin the race in box 14 along with Paul Hogan of UMass Howell and Bryce Miller of UMKC. They will be next to Michigan State in box 15 along with a set of three individuals in box 13 – Amon Kemboi and Lawrence Kipkoech, both of Campbell, and Utah Valley's Tyson Lambert.
"Other coaches who have individuals qualify for the national meet always talk about bringing somebody along to keep them in their normal routine of having a teammate there," noted McRaven. "So, for us, this is nice to have two runners advance.
"This is the third time since I've been here we've had two individuals qualify for nationals of the same gender. It almost feels like the team is there, since we have a couple of guys running together."
Farris, who placed 14th in the NCAA South Central Region meet the two previous years, finished sixth in this year's region meet to earn the final individual qualifying from this region.
At nearly 8,000m of last Friday's race on the Watts course, Farris occupied third place among a pack of 10 runners separated by only two seconds. He was third among individuals aiming for qualifying to the national championship meet.
Then at 9,100m, Farris was stationed in 10th place among a group of eight runners separated by one second and was seventh among the possible individual qualifiers for the NCAA Championship. A final kick moved him into sixth place, grabbing the fourth and final position to advance to Louisville, as he put an eight-second cushion over the next challenger for that prime spot.
"It's all settling in now, becoming a reality," noted Farris. "The shock is over. Now I'm just trying to stay relaxed and ready to go.
"In the race it's going to be cool to have a teammate there, and we can work together. The trip, in general, is going to be so much more fun with both of us getting to hang out and do everything together."
Bishop is the first Aggie sophomore individual qualifier since 2010 when the sophomore tandem of Natosha Rogers and Tara Upshaw qualified in the women's race.
During Bishop's freshman season he placed 34th in the region meet, posting a time of 31:41.4 on the challenging Arkansas course, as he finished third among the Aggie crew. Improving his 10,000m time to 30:03.8 on the Watts course, which has been a home venue for the College Station native the past few years, Bishop guided Texas A&M to a third-place team finish.
"After qualifying for nationals I took the rest of day and the day after to really enjoy the achievement," said Bishop. "Ultimately on Sunday we still got up early for practice, and that is when I started thinking about things. I try not to think about it too much, because it's easy to do that and overwhelm yourself. I just try to think about it at certain parts of the day, then talk to myself and make a decision.
"I've talked with Coach McRaven about strategies and with Christian about what we want to do. There are still some more things we've thought about, but we have a good idea of what we want to do in the race."
The Aggie teammates will rely on each other as they both experience the thrill of participating in a national championship field as well as the events leading up to race day, which includes a banquet at Churchill Downs – the home of the Kentucky Derby.
"They're great teammates and they kind of feed of each other in races," noted McRaven. "For Jon it's kind of a stepping stone. Even two weeks ago if you would have asked me if he was going to qualify individually for nationals I would have said he has the ability, but it's a long shot.
"For Christian, though, the plan was to qualify for nationals and contend for All-American honors. Now, with the way they are both running, that's the goal. Let's go get in the top 40."
Recent individual NCAA Championship qualifiers from Texas A&M
Year Athlete Class Honors (top 40 finish)
2017 Jon Bishop Sophomore
Christian Farris Senior
2015 Karis Jochen Junior All-American
2014 Grace Fletcher Senior All-American
Hillary Montgomery Senior All-American
2013 Hillary Montgomery Junior
Isaac Spencer Senior
2012 Henry Lelei Senior All-American
James Hodges Senior
2011 Natosha Rogers Junior
Henry Lelei Junior All-American (men's team qualified)
In addition to 31 teams qualifying for the NCAA Championships, there are 38 individuals among the field of 255 athletes in the men's 10,000-meter race. The top 40 finishers will earn All-American honors.
The women's 6,000m race starts at 10:45 a.m. (ET), followed by the men's race at 11:45 a.m. Coverage of the meet is available on Flotrack, which involves a subscription fee, at the following link - http://bit.ly/2jqGr7D.
"When we first recruited him, we felt that Jon was a guy who has some great talent at the mile and we still do," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "But he ran a good 10k at the region meet and qualified for the national championship as a sophomore. That's big time for him. It's a confidence builder and it's something he is really going to be able to use to advance his career right now.
"The same for Christian, he's a guy who just keeps working and working. As a senior he's worked hard for years and to top off his cross country career by qualifying for nationals it's a great thing for him. It's fun to watch a guy like that come up through the ranks and be successful at the end."
The two Aggies advanced to the national championship meet from a region meet that was held on Texas A&M's home venue – the Dale Watts cross country course – which will again serve as host for the South Central Region in 2018 and 2020.
"Our own home cross country course is probably as good of a course as there is in the United States," said Henry. "To be able to train out there and know how to run the course is something they used last weekend to their advantage."
This marks the fourth time under Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven in which the Aggies have advanced two runners in the same season to the national championship meet since 2012, which is the last time a pair of Texas A&M runners advanced on the men's side.
"It was exciting, both of those guys ran really well and executed the race plan," stated McRaven. "For Jon, I would definitely call it a breakthrough for him. He kind of took it to another level. It was probably the best cross country race of his career.
"Christian has been right there for the last couple of years, made that breakthrough and put himself in a great position to qualify for nationals."
With 41 starting boxes in Louisville, Farris and Bishop will begin the race in box 14 along with Paul Hogan of UMass Howell and Bryce Miller of UMKC. They will be next to Michigan State in box 15 along with a set of three individuals in box 13 – Amon Kemboi and Lawrence Kipkoech, both of Campbell, and Utah Valley's Tyson Lambert.
"Other coaches who have individuals qualify for the national meet always talk about bringing somebody along to keep them in their normal routine of having a teammate there," noted McRaven. "So, for us, this is nice to have two runners advance.
"This is the third time since I've been here we've had two individuals qualify for nationals of the same gender. It almost feels like the team is there, since we have a couple of guys running together."
Farris, who placed 14th in the NCAA South Central Region meet the two previous years, finished sixth in this year's region meet to earn the final individual qualifying from this region.
At nearly 8,000m of last Friday's race on the Watts course, Farris occupied third place among a pack of 10 runners separated by only two seconds. He was third among individuals aiming for qualifying to the national championship meet.
Then at 9,100m, Farris was stationed in 10th place among a group of eight runners separated by one second and was seventh among the possible individual qualifiers for the NCAA Championship. A final kick moved him into sixth place, grabbing the fourth and final position to advance to Louisville, as he put an eight-second cushion over the next challenger for that prime spot.
"It's all settling in now, becoming a reality," noted Farris. "The shock is over. Now I'm just trying to stay relaxed and ready to go.
"In the race it's going to be cool to have a teammate there, and we can work together. The trip, in general, is going to be so much more fun with both of us getting to hang out and do everything together."
Bishop is the first Aggie sophomore individual qualifier since 2010 when the sophomore tandem of Natosha Rogers and Tara Upshaw qualified in the women's race.
During Bishop's freshman season he placed 34th in the region meet, posting a time of 31:41.4 on the challenging Arkansas course, as he finished third among the Aggie crew. Improving his 10,000m time to 30:03.8 on the Watts course, which has been a home venue for the College Station native the past few years, Bishop guided Texas A&M to a third-place team finish.
"After qualifying for nationals I took the rest of day and the day after to really enjoy the achievement," said Bishop. "Ultimately on Sunday we still got up early for practice, and that is when I started thinking about things. I try not to think about it too much, because it's easy to do that and overwhelm yourself. I just try to think about it at certain parts of the day, then talk to myself and make a decision.
"I've talked with Coach McRaven about strategies and with Christian about what we want to do. There are still some more things we've thought about, but we have a good idea of what we want to do in the race."
The Aggie teammates will rely on each other as they both experience the thrill of participating in a national championship field as well as the events leading up to race day, which includes a banquet at Churchill Downs – the home of the Kentucky Derby.
"They're great teammates and they kind of feed of each other in races," noted McRaven. "For Jon it's kind of a stepping stone. Even two weeks ago if you would have asked me if he was going to qualify individually for nationals I would have said he has the ability, but it's a long shot.
"For Christian, though, the plan was to qualify for nationals and contend for All-American honors. Now, with the way they are both running, that's the goal. Let's go get in the top 40."
Recent individual NCAA Championship qualifiers from Texas A&M
Year Athlete Class Honors (top 40 finish)
2017 Jon Bishop Sophomore
Christian Farris Senior
2015 Karis Jochen Junior All-American
2014 Grace Fletcher Senior All-American
Hillary Montgomery Senior All-American
2013 Hillary Montgomery Junior
Isaac Spencer Senior
2012 Henry Lelei Senior All-American
James Hodges Senior
2011 Natosha Rogers Junior
Henry Lelei Junior All-American (men's team qualified)
Players Mentioned
/ Cross Country
/ Cross Country
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