XC 1st Meet Preview
Host: Oklahoma State
Meet: Cowboy Preview
Time: 8am (men), 8:30 (women)
Distance: 5k, 3k
Live Results:
https://live.athletic.net/meets/17861Other Teams: Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Arkansas
A loaded on the field for our Aggies. However this meet should not hold a lot of merit since the distances are half of what they will run at regionals.
Our women's team will be locked and loaded as they return a strong nucleus lead by Julia Abell (formerly Julia Black) and Abbey Santoro. These 5th year seniors will be ready to leave their mark and hopefully lead a historic cross country season for the Aggies. Let's hope they can take their running up a level. Also expected to lead the team is Grace Plain. Plain had a phenomenal track season and was looking like our top distance runner. Let's see if she can translate it to the cross courses. Also key to our success this season is the development and hopeful improvement of now sophomores Gemma Goddard and Maddie Livingston. Both stepped up as true freshman and I hope to see them excel this year. Our 4 and 5 scorers will be important to take down Texas, ACU, and Rice. Other returning contributors are Katelyn Buckley, Emma Saia, Nicole Chastain, and Emma Ellis, Mary Grace Rodriguez, and Deirdre Nelson, and UCLA transfer Siena Palicke. If she can stay healthy she can factor into the lineup! Arkansas and Oklahoma State are loaded and will push our ladies early this season!
The men will need some fellas to step up to have a historic season. Unlike the women who have a wide open shot for 2nd in the region. The men will need to work to take down Texas or Arkansas. Leading our men is Eric Casarez. Eric Casarez was looking like an All American at the beginning of the season then had a rough last meet, however he looked like a new man during track season collecting many PR's. Expect an All American season from our leader. Other key contributors who have the fastest 5k Pr's are Chandon Chhikara (transfer) and Francisco Romano (transfer)! After stellar track seasons, I expect Gavin Hoffpauir and Cooper Cawthra to step up and make their mark on the 5! It hurts losing Brady Grant, but other contributors who will fight to crack the scoring 5 could be Teddy Radtke, Jonathan Chung, Siddharth Jayaraman, Joseph Benn, Juan Arcila, and Kyle Johnson. The field will be tough tomorrow with Okie State ranked 2, Tulsa ranked 6th, and Arkansas ranked 12th. Should be a huge test for our men! But can't wait to see how they stack up against a high quality field and against each other!