COLLEGE STATION – Aggie men and women cross country squads swept the team titles at the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday morning on the Dale Watts course. This marked the third consecutive team victory for the Aggie men this season through three meets.
Texas A&M scored 62 points for the men’s team title, bettering McNeese State (110), Rice (129), Texas State (136), Houston (142), and UT-Arlington (143). The Aggie women scored 50 points to claim the team title over Lamar (88), TCU (96), Rice (109), McNeese State (143) and LSU (146).
“I was really pleased with how our kids competed,” noted Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “We were racing a little tired this week. That’s part of the deal, if you’re going to race well in November, you’re going to be a little tired in September from training.”
Alex Riba led the Texas A&M men with a runner-up performance, posting a time of 23 minutes, 58.5 seconds on the 8,000-meter course. Winning the race, in 23:51.5, was Brian Barraza of Houston while Stanley Limoh of Louisiana-Lafayette placed third in 24:09.4. Barraza won the NCAA South Central title on this course two seasons ago.
“It’s fun to win a team title in front of the home crowd,” said Riba. “Every time we race we learn more so we’ll be ready for the next team race. It was fun being back on a fast course at home. There was great competition and the race went out fast. So it was a good day for running fast.
“It absolutely helped being able to race the caliber of Barraza, because I was able to sit behind him for a majority of the race and hang on for dear life for as long as I could in that race. It certainly helped me out and will prepare me for later on in the season when I get to race more guys at that level.”
In the women’s race Ashley Driscoll paced the Aggie women for the third consecutive outing this season. Closing strong in the late stages of the race, Driscoll finished third in 20:42.0 over a 6,000-meter course. Teammate Kelsie Warren ran 20:54.7 in her first race of the season to place fourth overall.
Susannah Lynch of North Texas won in 20:23.1 with TCU’s Brenley Goertzen runner-up at 20:36.1.
Warren led the field through the first 2k, and was a stride behind Goertzen at 4k. Driscoll, meanwhile, was fourth at 2k, eight seconds behind the leader, moved to third at 4k, six-plus seconds back of the leader, and then maintained her position while passing Warren in the stretch run to the finish line.
“This was so exciting and definitely the best race I’ve run this season,” said Driscoll. “It was so awesome to see Kelsie in her first race back and run so strong. I was hoping to close the gap on the leaders in the last 2k. Then I tried to get as close as I could near the finish.”
McRaven noted: “For her first race of the year, and as warm as it was when the women were racing, Kelsie probably went out a little aggressively. She’s fit and it was a good rust buster for her. It’s great to see Driscoll stepping up another level. Now she’s somebody who can be a top 10 or top 15 runner in the regional meet. Ashley has made a lot of progress in a year.”
Ryan Yerrow followed Riba on the Aggie men’s squad in placing seventh. Yerrow’s time of 24:16.2 made him the top freshman finisher overall in the race. Christian Farris placed ninth in 24:18.3 and Jon Bishopplaced 18th with a clocking of 24:35.0. Jacob Perry, the fifth finisher for Texas A&M, ran 24:51.4 to place 30th.
Brandt Preston, a stride behind Perry in 31st, ran 24:51.6 as the sixth Aggie runner while Taylor Claytoncame in as the seventh finisher, placing 40th in 24:58.5.
“I knew from the start that I was going to feel good in the race,” noted Yerrow, who earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors in his last race. “So, I thought I might as well take advantage of it. I went up to the front with the leaders through 5k. Brandt and I were rolling and we just knew we were going to have a good race.
“I’m just blessed to have the opportunities that I do with the team. We are doing well right now as a team, but we still have a lot of work to do. Like Coach McRaven says, we’re training for November, not September. We’ll be ready.”
Kelsey Persyn finished 11th in the women’s race as the third Aggie, running 21:36.8. Then Kaitlin Tannerand Hannah Campbell placed 17th and 18th to complete Texas A&M’s team score as the fourth and fifth runner. Tanner clocked 21:42.5 as Campbell posted a time of 21:44.0. The sixth runner for the Aggies was Lauryn Barrientos, placing 22nd in 21:53.6.
A trio of finishers for Texas A&M followed in 28th, 29th and 31st with Maddie Vondra (22:02.5), Olivia Arriaza(22:08.2), and Lizette Chapa (22:15.6). The rest of the squad included Valarie Bradley (44th, 22:32.1), Shelby McNeel (59th, 22:57.0), Audrey Spitz (80th, 23:34.2), Sarah Odneal (90th, 23:46.2), and Nikki Keys (97th, 24:05.1)
Rounding out the Texas A&M men’s crew were Ryan Trahan (41st, 25:03.2), Zephyr Seagraves (58th, 25:21.1), Sam Erickson (61st, 25:22.8), Eli Canal (74th, 25:38.0), Nicko Enochs (88th, 25:56.9), Chandler Rathke (90th, 25:57.1), Juan Uribe (99th, 26:07.1), and Raymond Gonzales (121st, 26:55.1).
Texas A&M Invitational – September 23, 2017
MEN: 1. Texas A&M, 62; 2. McNeese State, 110; 3. Rice, 129; 4. Texas State, 136; 5. Houston, 142; 6. UT-Arlington, 143; 7. Louisiana-Lafayette, 188; 8. Lamar, 192; 9. LSU, 203; 10. North Texas, 231; 11. Southeastern Louisiana, 274; 12. Sam Houston State, 328; 13. Central Arkansas, 352; 14. Texas Wesleyan, 391; 15. Old Army TC, 394; 16. TAMU-Kingsville, 438; 17. Prairie View, 476; 18. TCU, 504.
WOMEN: 1. Texas A&M, 50; 2. Lamar, 88; 3. TCU, 96; 4. Rice, 109; 5. McNeese State, 143; 6. LSU, 146; 7. Houston, 202; 8. Louisiana-Lafayette, 220; 9. UT-Arlington, 230; 10. Central Arkansas, 246; 11. North Texas, 247; 12. Texas State, 282; 13. Sam Houston State, 362; 14. Southeastern Louisiana, 368; 15. TAMU-Kingsville, 459; 16. Southeastern Oklahoma, 460; 17. Prairie View, 509.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics