Cross Country Heads to NCAA South Central Regional

Sam Thornton | Assistant Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark– The Texas A&M cross country teams travel to the home of the Razorbacks to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional Friday morning at Agri Park. The gun goes off at 10:30 a.m. for the women’s 6k race, followed by the men running the 10k course at 11:30 a.m.

“It is the next step in the season’s progression,” distance coach Wendel McRaven said. “We want to keep the same momentum we had at SEC’s going into regionals and see if we can get a team or individual to nationals. The regional meet is another chance for us to see where we are at and is going to be a steppingstone for us.”

Last season, Jonathan Chung was the first member of the Aggie men’s team to qualify for the NCAA Championships since teammate Eric Casarez in 2019. Chung concluded the 10k race with a time of 30:35.1, securing sixth-place at the South Central Regional. Finishing as the first of four non-team qualifying individuals, Chung earned a trip to the national meet. His sixth-place finish led the men to place third as a team, while the women secured sixth.

Last time out at the SEC Championships, the men’s squad compiled 140 points for the fourth-place team finish, their best result since 2015, while the women’s team tallied 181 points for a sixth-place team finish, its best since 2014.

The Aggie men started the season by winning their first two meets and claiming top-five finishes in all five regular-season events. Chung and Cooper Cawthra were the team’s top finishers in the first two races earning individual titles, while Casarez took over during the last three meets consistently placing in the top five. Recently, Casarez took 10th place at the SEC Championships clocking a time of 23:14.9 and earning a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. Jack Johnston also garnered conference recognition, landing on the SEC All-Freshman Team finishing as one of the top seven freshmen at the championships.

On the women’s side, the Aggies secured two team titles while claiming top-ten finishes at the remaining three events this season. Maddie Livingston has paced the women’s team at every meet, securing five top-25 finishes highlighted by the first individual title of her career at the Texas A&M Invitational. Madison Brown, Kennady Fontenot, Emma Little and Shewaye Johnson have been the consistent group right behind Livingston, as they have been the top-five finishers at every race this season.

A&M will be joined by another 29 women’s teams and 27 men’s squads, including Arkansas, Texas, Arkansas State, Tulane, New Orleans, Baylor, Rice, Lamar, Incarnate Word, McNeese State, Abilene Christian, UTSA, UT-Arlington, UT-Rio Grande Valley, Central Arkansas, TCU, Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-CC, Little Rock, Louisiana, LSU, North Texas, Sam Houston, Houston Christian, SMU, Texas State, ULM, SE Louisiana and Nicholls State.

Fans can follow all the action from the races live through FlashResults.

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