STILLWATER, Okla. – The Texas A&M men's and women's cross country teams open the 2022 season Thursday morning at the Cowboy Preview on the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course.
The men's 5k race begins at 8 am, followed by the women's 3k race at 8:30 am. Live results can be found here.
"It's an early season race with shorter distances that offers a chance to run on the national meet course," distance coach Wendel McRaven said. "We're changing our routine a bit by traveling to open the season, and I think that will help us get out of our comfort zone. It will be good to see where we're at after all the months of training since track season and it helps us gauge what we need to do from here to be the best version of ourselves."
The Aggies return multiple top finishers from last year's regionals. The men's team returns five of the top seven runners in Eric Casarez, Gavin Hoffpauir, Joseph Benn, Jonathan Chung and Teddy Radtke.
"Eric comes back as our top guy," McRaven said. "He made some breakthroughs during the track season and developed a level of consistency, which gave him more confidence. I'm excited about guys like Gavin, Cooper, Jonathan, Teddy and others that made a lot of progress last spring on the track."
The women's team returns six of their top seven from last year. Top returners Julia Abell (Black) and Abbey Santoro are coming off USTFCCA South Central All-Region performances. Other top returners include Grace Plain, Gemma Goddard, Maddie Livingston and Emma Saia.
"On the women's side, we're returning the core of that group from last year," McRaven stated. "Both Julia and Abbey were All-Region last year. Grace had a huge breakthrough on the track last year and we're looking forward to having her consistency. Gemma and Maddie are coming off really nice freshman seasons and are hoping for better results this year."
Teams in attendance include nationally ranked Oklahoma State is No. 2 in the men's poll and No. 4 on the women's side. Others entered in the meet include Tulsa, Arkansas and SMU (women).
"I'm excited to get things kicked off here," McRaven said. "This is a bit of a rust buster but it's a really good meet. We're excited to see how we stack up against these nationally ranked teams"
To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.
The men's 5k race begins at 8 am, followed by the women's 3k race at 8:30 am. Live results can be found here.
"It's an early season race with shorter distances that offers a chance to run on the national meet course," distance coach Wendel McRaven said. "We're changing our routine a bit by traveling to open the season, and I think that will help us get out of our comfort zone. It will be good to see where we're at after all the months of training since track season and it helps us gauge what we need to do from here to be the best version of ourselves."
The Aggies return multiple top finishers from last year's regionals. The men's team returns five of the top seven runners in Eric Casarez, Gavin Hoffpauir, Joseph Benn, Jonathan Chung and Teddy Radtke.
"Eric comes back as our top guy," McRaven said. "He made some breakthroughs during the track season and developed a level of consistency, which gave him more confidence. I'm excited about guys like Gavin, Cooper, Jonathan, Teddy and others that made a lot of progress last spring on the track."
The women's team returns six of their top seven from last year. Top returners Julia Abell (Black) and Abbey Santoro are coming off USTFCCA South Central All-Region performances. Other top returners include Grace Plain, Gemma Goddard, Maddie Livingston and Emma Saia.
"On the women's side, we're returning the core of that group from last year," McRaven stated. "Both Julia and Abbey were All-Region last year. Grace had a huge breakthrough on the track last year and we're looking forward to having her consistency. Gemma and Maddie are coming off really nice freshman seasons and are hoping for better results this year."
Teams in attendance include nationally ranked Oklahoma State is No. 2 in the men's poll and No. 4 on the women's side. Others entered in the meet include Tulsa, Arkansas and SMU (women).
"I'm excited to get things kicked off here," McRaven said. "This is a bit of a rust buster but it's a really good meet. We're excited to see how we stack up against these nationally ranked teams"
To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.