Aggies travel to Loyola Lakefront Invitational on first road trip

Saturday, September 29

Chicago, Ill.

11:15 a.m.

Texas A&M

Loyola Lakefront Invitational

Sep 27, 2018 | Cross Country

CHICAGO – Texas A&M's first road trip of the cross country season takes the Aggies to the 41^st Loyola Lakefront Invitational, which will be held on Saturday, September 29. The races will have the women covering a 5,000-meter course at 11:15 a.m. while the men race over 8,000m at noon.

"Our kids are excited about racing in cooler temperatures this weekend," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "We had our first day with slightly cooler weather in the morning during training this week and the kids were fired up about it.

"It's just so much more comfortable to run in, and I think our team will enjoy it in Chicago. It's going to be good running conditions, so it should be fun."

After sweeping team victories at two home meets to start the season, Texas A&M will compete among a field of 30-plus teams. Some of the schools the Aggies will be racing against in the Lakefront Invitational include Alabama-Birmingham, Arizona, DePaul, Illinois, Loyola Chicago, Loyola Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oakland (Mich.) Princeton (w), and Southern Illinois.

"It's a big field, but not a super deep field," said McRaven. "There are some good teams from various conferences along with a couple of strong programs from Division II and III with Grand Valley State and Washington-St. Louis, who always look to knock off Division I teams."

The Aggies enter the meet with the men ranked third in the South Central region while the women are ranked fifth.

In men's regional rankings, Illinois is sixth in the Midwest while Nebraska ranks 10^th and Missouri is 11^th.
On the women's side Princeton ranks fourth in the Mid-Atlantic. In the Midwest region, Missouri is sixth and Illinois ranks 12^th. Meanwhile, Oakland is ranked 15^th in the Great Lakes region while Arizona ranks 11^th in the West region.

In the national rankings for Division II the Grand Valley State men rank third with the women equal second. Among Division III, Washington-St. Louis men and women both rank second.

"The challenge will be how well this team adapts to change," said McRaven. "We've raced at home a couple of times on a course we are very familiar with and raced against teams from our region. Nobody on this team has run this course at the Lakefront Invitational before, so that will be a challenge along with competing against teams from other regions."

The Aggie men's team will include Jon Bishop, Taylor Clayton, Gavin Hoffpauir, Wes McPhail, Jacob Perry, Brandt Preston, Zephyr Seagraves and Harrison Tillman.

Texas A&M's women's squad includes Olivia Arriaza, Lauryn Barrientos, Rachel Bernardo, Julia Black, Valarie Bradley, Lizette Chapa, Ashley Driscoll, Carrie Fish, Megan Hopper, Nikki Keys, Grace Plain, Abbey Santoro and Kelsie Warren.

"Between men and women we are traveling around eight or nine new people," noted McRaven. "Every year it's like a new team with a new dynamic. Each year the team develops its own culture and vibe. This is the first chance for them to get on the road and see how they react when it's just them and not the whole team involved."