Aggies travel to Georgia for Bulldog SEC Preview cross country meet

Saturday, September 9

Athens, Ga.

7:30 a.m.

Texas A&M

Bulldog SEC Preview

Sep 07, 2017 | Cross Country

ATHENS, Georgia – Texas A&M cross country travels to the University of Georgia for the Bulldog SEC Preview on Saturday morning. The meet, held on the UGA Golf Course, will have the men racing over 8,000-meters (8:30 a.m. ET) and the women competing over 6,000m (9:15 a.m. ET).

Teams scheduled to compete in the SEC Preview include Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, South Carolina (women), and Tennessee. Georgia will host the SEC Championships on October 27.

"The main reason we're going to this meet is to see what the course looks like and get a feel for it," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "It will be good to see some SEC teams, particularly Georgia and Auburn, who on paper appear to be battling for places in the upper half of the conference at the end of the season.

"This meet will be a good test to see where we are at, and it's good to see how we bounce back from racing two weeks in a row this early in the season."

The Aggies will have a travel squad of 20 athletes competing in the meet. Alex Riba led the Texas A&M men during the Aggie Opener, winning the race and earning SEC Runner of the Week honors. Ashley Driscoll was the top finisher for the Texas A&M women, placing second in the Aggie Opener.

The men's squad will also include Jon Bishop, Taylor Clayton, Christian Farris, Jacob Perry, Brandt Preston, as well as three freshmen.

After competing unattached in Texas A&M's home meet last week, three freshmen on the men's team will make their Aggie debut in the SEC Preview. The trio includes Zephyr Seagraves, Ryan Trahan and Ryan Yerrow.

Yerrow led the crew competing unattached in the Aggie Opener, placing sixth with a time of 18:34.2 on the 6,000m course. Trahan clocked 18:37.3 to finish eighth while Zephyr placed 13^th in 18:48.0.

"We are going to put three freshmen in uniform this week and almost had a fourth make the trip," said McRaven. "On the women's side we'll be taking a couple of freshmen as well. It will be good for them to get that experience."

Traveling with the women's team are freshmen Maddie Vondra and Kylie Purifoy, who both made their debut in the Aggie Opener. Vondra was the top freshman finisher in the field as she placed ninth overall and was the sixth runner among the Texas A&M squad. Purifoy placed 16^th, finishing as the third freshman in the race and was eighth among the Aggie crew.

The women's squad also includes Lauryn Barrientos, Hannah Campbell, Lizette Chapa, Ashton Hutcherson, Devin Norton, Kelsey Persyn, Kaitlin Tanner and Kelsie Warren.