COLLEGE STATION – The Aggie Opener, held this Friday, August 30, starts the 2019 cross country season for Texas A&M and it will be the first of three home meets hosted this fall at the Dale Watts Cross Country course.
Joining the Aggies for the 4,100m women's race and 6,000m men's race are Houston, St. Thomas and Texas Southern. The women's race begins at 6:45 p.m. with the men following at 7:15 p.m. Live results will be available at www.flashresults.com.
Other home meets this season include the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday, September 13, starting at 8 a.m. Then the Aggies host the second annual Arturo Barrios Invitational, with a field of 28 teams, on Saturday, October 19, starting at 9 a.m.
Senior leadership for the A&M men this season comes from Jon Bishop and Brandt Preston while junior Zephyr Seagraves is another top returner for the Aggies. Sophomores Gavin Hoffpauir and Wesley McPhail return with key experience from last season as each raced and placed among the A&M top five in the SEC Championships.
Leading the Aggie women this season are seniors Ashley Driscoll and Kelsie Warren along with junior Ashton Hutcherson. A crew of sophomores who competed in the SEC Championships last year include Rachel Bernardo, Julia Black, Carrie Fish and Abbey Santoro.
"It's two teams I'm very excited about and for different reasons," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "On the women's side I think we have a great group returning that finished fourth in the NCAA South Central region last year. People started stepping up in that meet and we started looking like the team we envisioned at the beginning of the season last year. I think we have good quality depth through eight to 10 runners.
"For the men, some of the excitement is with the newcomers we have in transfers adding to the mix with guys we have right now. It will take some of them a while to get into the flow of things. We have a talented team that was third in the regional meet last year and we return a solid group. There is no one guy necessarily who stands out as a superstar, but there's a lot of guys pretty close together equal in ability. That makes for exciting potential."
Regional preseason rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday have the Aggies at No. 3 in the men's and women's South Central Region.
The top 10 men's teams in the South Central Region include Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Rice, North Texas, UTRGV, Incarnate Word, UT Arlington, Lamar and McNeese State. The top 10 women's teams include Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Rice, Texas State, Baylor, SMU, UTRGV, Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Voting by conference coaches in the SEC preseason poll, released Monday, have the Texas A&M men ranked seventh and the Aggie women tied for eighth with Kentucky. The SEC Championships will be held on Friday, November 1 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Mississippi men collected seven first place votes while Alabama followed with five. They were followed by Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Missouri among the top six. Arkansas women claimed 13 first place votes with Mississippi earning one. They were followed by Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Vanderbilt among the top six.
2019 TEXAS A&M CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE
August
30 Texas A&M Aggie Opener College Station
September
13 Texas A&M Invitational College Station
27 at Missouri Invitational Columbia, Missouri
October
19 Arturo Barrios Invitational College Station
November
1 SEC Championships Lexington, Kentucky
15 NCAA South Central Regional Fayetteville, Arkansas
23 NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Indiana
Joining the Aggies for the 4,100m women's race and 6,000m men's race are Houston, St. Thomas and Texas Southern. The women's race begins at 6:45 p.m. with the men following at 7:15 p.m. Live results will be available at www.flashresults.com.
Other home meets this season include the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday, September 13, starting at 8 a.m. Then the Aggies host the second annual Arturo Barrios Invitational, with a field of 28 teams, on Saturday, October 19, starting at 9 a.m.
Senior leadership for the A&M men this season comes from Jon Bishop and Brandt Preston while junior Zephyr Seagraves is another top returner for the Aggies. Sophomores Gavin Hoffpauir and Wesley McPhail return with key experience from last season as each raced and placed among the A&M top five in the SEC Championships.
Leading the Aggie women this season are seniors Ashley Driscoll and Kelsie Warren along with junior Ashton Hutcherson. A crew of sophomores who competed in the SEC Championships last year include Rachel Bernardo, Julia Black, Carrie Fish and Abbey Santoro.
"It's two teams I'm very excited about and for different reasons," noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. "On the women's side I think we have a great group returning that finished fourth in the NCAA South Central region last year. People started stepping up in that meet and we started looking like the team we envisioned at the beginning of the season last year. I think we have good quality depth through eight to 10 runners.
"For the men, some of the excitement is with the newcomers we have in transfers adding to the mix with guys we have right now. It will take some of them a while to get into the flow of things. We have a talented team that was third in the regional meet last year and we return a solid group. There is no one guy necessarily who stands out as a superstar, but there's a lot of guys pretty close together equal in ability. That makes for exciting potential."
Regional preseason rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday have the Aggies at No. 3 in the men's and women's South Central Region.
The top 10 men's teams in the South Central Region include Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Rice, North Texas, UTRGV, Incarnate Word, UT Arlington, Lamar and McNeese State. The top 10 women's teams include Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Rice, Texas State, Baylor, SMU, UTRGV, Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Voting by conference coaches in the SEC preseason poll, released Monday, have the Texas A&M men ranked seventh and the Aggie women tied for eighth with Kentucky. The SEC Championships will be held on Friday, November 1 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Mississippi men collected seven first place votes while Alabama followed with five. They were followed by Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Missouri among the top six. Arkansas women claimed 13 first place votes with Mississippi earning one. They were followed by Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Vanderbilt among the top six.
2019 TEXAS A&M CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE
August
30 Texas A&M Aggie Opener College Station
September
13 Texas A&M Invitational College Station
27 at Missouri Invitational Columbia, Missouri
October
19 Arturo Barrios Invitational College Station
November
1 SEC Championships Lexington, Kentucky
15 NCAA South Central Regional Fayetteville, Arkansas
23 NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Indiana