Aggie men seventh, women 10th in SEC Championships

Friday, October 26

Auburn, Ala.

9 a.m.

Texas A&M

SEC Championships

Oct 26, 2018 | Cross Country

Men's results Women's results

AUBURN, Ala. – Texas A&M men finished seventh while the Aggie women were 10^th in the SEC Cross Country Championships, which were held on the Indian Pines Golf Course on Friday morning, with Jacob Perry and Kelsie Warren leading the respective squads.

Mississippi defeated Arkansas for the men's team title, 36 to 44, with Kentucky third at 122. Mississippi is only the second school to win the SEC title since the Razorbacks joined the league in 1991 after Alabama claimed titles in 2008 and 2009.

The top six men's teams also included Tennessee (132), Missouri (135), and Alabama (166). The Aggie men scored 170 points to place seventh as they finished ahead of Florida (184), Georgia (190), Auburn (266), Vanderbilt (291) and LSU (335).

Texas A&M, who competed without Jon Bishop, produced its third best team score since joining the conference, behind 80 points in 2012 when they tied for third and 98 points in 2015 when the Aggies hosted the SEC meet and placed second.

"Not having Jon Bishop, and finishing one place better than we did a year ago, I was really proud of the guy's effort," stated Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "They really competed well and stepped up. We were in fifth place with 2k remaining and they stuck their nose in it and did exactly what we talked about before the race. I wanted them to race and try to beat people. They were fighting all the way to the end."

Arkansas women, ranked No. 5 nationally, claimed a sixth consecutive team title with a tally of 24 points. Florida, behind individual winner Jessica Pascoe (18:55.0), finished second with 69 points while Mississippi placed third at 116. The top six team finishers also included Georgia (144), Missouri (149), and Vanderbilt (181).

Tennessee (197) placed seventh ahead of Kentucky (242) and Alabama (242) along with Texas A&M (260), LSU (275), Mississippi State (277), South Carolina (333) and Auburn (349).

Perry finished 19^th in the men's race, covering the 8,000m distance, over a 2,000m loop course, in 23:34.8. Zephyr Seagraves, who was the top freshman finisher and No. 5 runner for the Aggies a year ago, followed in 33^rd place with a time of 23:56.8 while Brandt Preston finished 35^th in 23:59.9.

"We definitely needed to have someone step up since we were missing Jon today," noted Perry, who produced the second fastest time by an Aggie in the SEC Championship behind Henry Lelei's winning effort of 23:30.0 in 2012. "As a whole our team came together and did the best we could do.

"There were some times while I was in the second big pack of runners I was trying to tell myself this is where the race is and I need to hold on. From that point I knew people were just going to get faster and start going. I knew I couldn't let them go and had to hold on for as long as possible."

McRaven added: "Jacob Perry ran by far the best cross country race of his collegiate career. He finished top 20 in the SEC and that is a huge jump."

Wes McPhail, the top freshman finisher for the Aggies, placed 39^th as he clocked 24:03.1 while another frosh, Gavin Hoffpauir, completed A&M's scoring five in 45^th place as he posted a 24:07.6. Both of those efforts were the fastest by an Aggie frosh in a SEC meet as they bettered the 24:55.1 by Cameron Villarreal in 2013.

Noah Jacobs led the rest of the Aggie crew, placing 59^th (24:23.8), and was followed by Eli Canal (25:11.2) and Taylor Clayton (25:14.1), who were 83^rd and 84^th. Harrison Tillman finished 91^st (25:29.3).

Warren placed 31^st in the women's 6,000 meter race as she posted a time of 20:25.0, the fourth-best effort by an A&M runner in the SEC Championships, trailing Hillary Montgomery (19:56.1 – 2014) and Karis Jochen (19:59.2 – 2015, 20:08.8 - 2014).

"We weren't necessarily walking away from a 10^th-place team performance being very happy with that," said McRaven. "We know we are better than that. Now we have two weeks to figure out what we need to do to put ourselves where we belong."

Warren noted: "I was definitely happy to be out there racing and running with a positive mind. Now I'm ready to move on to the next one. We host the regional meet and know the course very well. All of our girls are ready to do much better, since we were a little disappointed in how we finished overall as a team today."

Ashley Driscoll followed in 47^th place as she posted a time of 20:36.9 while the No. 3 Aggie runner was freshman Julia Black, who finished 62^nd in 20:56.9, which is the second fastest performance by a Texas A&M freshman in the SEC Championships behind Jochen's 20:53.4 in 2013.

Rounding out the scoring five for the Aggies were Valarie Bradley (20:59.2) and freshman Carrie Fish (21:00.1) as they placed 65^th and 66^th, respectively. Lizette Chapa was the sixth finisher for A&M as she placed 72^nd (21:03.0).

Rachel Bernardo (21:07.1) led the rest of the crew, placing 77^th, and was followed by Nikki Keys (94^th – 21:26.8), Lauryn Barrientos (99^th – 21:26.1), Amelia McElhinney (104^th - 21:38.9), Abbey Santoro (106^th – 21:41.4), and Megan Hopper (129^th – 22:37.3).