COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M begins its 2018 cross country season with a home meet next Friday, August 31, at the Dale Watts Cross Country course. The Aggie Opener will include five schools as the women race over a 4,100m distance and the men cover 6,000m. The women's race begins at 6:45 p.m. with the men following at 7:15 p.m.
This will be the first of four home meets for Texas A&M during the 2018 season. The Aggies host the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, September 22, the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Saturday, October 13, and the NCAA South Central Regional on Friday, November 9.
"It's always exciting when you start the year off," stated Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "You get all the new faces mixed in with the returning faces. On both sides we have some good newcomers to add to the mix.
"On the women's side we've brought in a really good crew and have some good returning athletes, with a pair of All-SEC runners in that group with Ashley Driscoll and Kelsie Warren. On the men's side we have Jon Bishop leading the way, coming off being an individual national qualifier last season. It will be a little bit of an inexperienced men's group, but a handful of guys that come back with some SEC and regional races under their belt."
The Texas A&M Invitational will include 15 teams while the Arturo Barrios Invitational will have the Aggies hosting 23 schools.
"The advantage of having the course that we now have is we can have various races at different distances," noted McRaven. "The Aggie Opener is a low-key rust-buster and even our second meet has grown over the years, but it's still early in the year.
"The nice thing about adding a home meet on October 13 is we are in the heart of the season. We decided late to host the meet that weekend since we noticed there weren't a lot of big meets around the country, so you were pretty limited in options. Plus, I knew some other teams around the country were looking for an option that weekend."
Interest in the Arturo Barrios Invitational drew in teams from around the country.
"We named the meet after the greatest distance runner on the men's side to come through Texas A&M," said McRaven. "He is a former world record holder in the 10,000m plus the 20,000m and one-hour run. He is a legend.
"This is going to be a really good meet, one that has national representation from multiple regions around the country. Oklahoma State has been a national champion in the past and is a perennial national powerhouse. We will have Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt from the SEC along with Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma from the Big 12."
While the Aggies have previously hosted conference meets in the Big 12 and SEC, along with the NCAA South Central Regional, having schools from various regions experience the course will hopefully be a benefit for future national-level meets.
"It will be exciting to have the caliber of teams competing on our course, showing that we can put on a big meet other than the regional meet we host," noted McRaven. "The eventual goal is to get the NCAA national championships on our course and hosting these kind of meets makes something like that viable."
2018 Cross Country Schedule
August
31 Aggie Opener Watts Course
September
22 Texas A&M Invitational Watts Course
29 at Loyola Lakefront Invitational Chicago, Illinois
October
13 Arturo Barrios Invitational Watts Course
26 at SEC Championships Auburn, Alabama
November
9 NCAA South Central Regional Watts Course
17 at NCAA Championships Madison, Wisconsin
This will be the first of four home meets for Texas A&M during the 2018 season. The Aggies host the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, September 22, the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Saturday, October 13, and the NCAA South Central Regional on Friday, November 9.
"It's always exciting when you start the year off," stated Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "You get all the new faces mixed in with the returning faces. On both sides we have some good newcomers to add to the mix.
"On the women's side we've brought in a really good crew and have some good returning athletes, with a pair of All-SEC runners in that group with Ashley Driscoll and Kelsie Warren. On the men's side we have Jon Bishop leading the way, coming off being an individual national qualifier last season. It will be a little bit of an inexperienced men's group, but a handful of guys that come back with some SEC and regional races under their belt."
The Texas A&M Invitational will include 15 teams while the Arturo Barrios Invitational will have the Aggies hosting 23 schools.
"The advantage of having the course that we now have is we can have various races at different distances," noted McRaven. "The Aggie Opener is a low-key rust-buster and even our second meet has grown over the years, but it's still early in the year.
"The nice thing about adding a home meet on October 13 is we are in the heart of the season. We decided late to host the meet that weekend since we noticed there weren't a lot of big meets around the country, so you were pretty limited in options. Plus, I knew some other teams around the country were looking for an option that weekend."
Interest in the Arturo Barrios Invitational drew in teams from around the country.
"We named the meet after the greatest distance runner on the men's side to come through Texas A&M," said McRaven. "He is a former world record holder in the 10,000m plus the 20,000m and one-hour run. He is a legend.
"This is going to be a really good meet, one that has national representation from multiple regions around the country. Oklahoma State has been a national champion in the past and is a perennial national powerhouse. We will have Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt from the SEC along with Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma from the Big 12."
While the Aggies have previously hosted conference meets in the Big 12 and SEC, along with the NCAA South Central Regional, having schools from various regions experience the course will hopefully be a benefit for future national-level meets.
"It will be exciting to have the caliber of teams competing on our course, showing that we can put on a big meet other than the regional meet we host," noted McRaven. "The eventual goal is to get the NCAA national championships on our course and hosting these kind of meets makes something like that viable."
2018 Cross Country Schedule
August
31 Aggie Opener Watts Course
September
22 Texas A&M Invitational Watts Course
29 at Loyola Lakefront Invitational Chicago, Illinois
October
13 Arturo Barrios Invitational Watts Course
26 at SEC Championships Auburn, Alabama
November
9 NCAA South Central Regional Watts Course
17 at NCAA Championships Madison, Wisconsin