Just saw in the story about the cross country course that we are hosting the USATF Junior Olympic Championships. Checked the USATF website and it is on December 10.

taylorswift13's XC runners of the meet

Men:

Jonathan Chung:
This guy really stepped up and put in work over the off season and it's starting to show! He ran 24:05 when his previous best was 24:33 with every other 8k over 25:00!!! If he can stay strong and consistently stay our number 2 than wow! Let's go Chung!

Spencer Werner:
What an Aggie debut for the freshman Spencer Werner! A debut 8k run of 24:37 to place 8th overall and nearly 40 seconds over the next freshman!! He can push our vets and add to our depth if he can go up to the 10k smoothly! Love where he's at as a freshman!

Women

Grace Plain:
She runs with Grace and her talent is not Plain… Grace Plain, the breakout distance star during track season continues her momentum and ran extremely well this past weekend!! Seeing her in person she seems like a different runner from last year and runs much more relaxed and poised. In my opinion she struggled finishing races last year, but she's a new runner now and it's a testament to her hard work that McRaven mentions! She placed 3rd behind two national talent runners! She had a 10 second PR and I believe she had more in the tank! Can't wait to see how she continues to grow and lead our girls!

Kennedy Fontenot:
Another freshman star wowing in her Aggie debut! Like Werner, Fontenot (pronounced Font - uh - know) placed in the top ten with a 10th place finish! She ran a solid time of 18:31! The race was paced slowly for these women. A solid debut for the freshman who finished as the 5th runner for our ladies! With Goddard still recovering from an injury we may need Fontenot to step up! Another freshman Emma Little finished 3 spots and 7 seconds behind her!

mullokmotx said:

---

I'm not understanding the no outdoor meets. Surely some place can be found for the javelin, hammer and discus.

---

I don't get it either. Seems to be an overreaction.

48th Annual Paul Short Run Preview

Host: Lehigh University
Time: 10am (men), 10:45 (women) central time
Distance: 8k, 6k
Live Results: https://results.leonetiming.com/xc.html?mid=5209
Other Notable Teams: Duke, Harvard, Georgetown, North Carolina, Princeton, Rice, Villanova, Yale, (48 schools)

If this was an academic meet, it would be a little more challenging. However this is cross country and our teams are rolling. Our Aggies are currently in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania preparing for a historic race at Lehigh University. This is a huge change of pace, albeit a much needed one for our runners. Recently we've mainly contested meets that we host or travel somewhere within our region. There are many positives to a meet like this, the quantity and quality of teams, learning how to race in big meets, exposure for our brand, the experience/travel for our athletes, and getting our young ones used to flying on a plane and getting their legs ready to compete. This meet provides all that and more. Competing in a large meet with a lot of runners is different and has its challenges. Team scoring is widely sporadic and every spot counts 1-5. Having a dominant force to keep the score low is helpful, as is having your runners 4 and 5 close to 3. For those who don't know, team scores in cross country are calculated by the sum of places of your top 5 runners. The lower the score the better.

Our men's team will be carried by our leader Eric Casarez. The cross country junior is coming off an easy win at the Texas A&M Team Invitational where he ran a time of 23:54. The competition from the northeast schools will be challenging but Casarez will always have a chance in any race. I would love and expect to see him finish in the top 10/20 runners. His score will be beneficial to our team standings, however the runners behind him can't fall too far behind. Last week right behind Casarez was Jonathan Chung and Chandon Chhikara placing 2nd and 3rd. Chung is emerging as a sold runner and it would be awesome to see consistency from him. Chhikara is a pleasant surprise to the team. Also emerging in the 4th spot was College Station kid Joseph Benn. Gavin Hoffpauir, Spencer Werner, and Tristan galvan wrapped up our top 7. Cooper Cawthra did not run. Men listed to compete tomorrow are: Joseph Benn, Eric Casarez, Cooper Cawthra, Chandon Chhikara, Jonathan Chung, Colton Colonna, Tristan Galvin, Gavin Hoffpauir, Henry Jaques, Siddharth Jayaraman, Kyle Johnson, Teddy Radtke, Fransesco Romano, Spencer Werner, and Victor Zuniga.

Our women will continue to be led by the trio of Grace Plain, Julia Abell, and Abbey Santoro. The three might not be in the top ten, but they will fight atop and stay close to one another. We really need to have our 4 and 5 step up, especially in a large meet like this! Plain, Abell, and Santoro went 3-4-5 at the home meet. Last season Gemma Goddard was interchangeable with the 3 girls but injured herself in track and wasn't herself the first meet of the season and hadn't ran last meet. She is scheduled to run tomorrow. Behind the 3 seniors was Maddie Livingston who fell off the pace from them but can keep up. It is pivotal she does for the teams sake. If Goddard isnt herself we need a 5 to step up in a huge way! last week Kennedy Fontenot did exactly that and finished as our 5th runner in her Aggie debut. Behind her was Dierdre Nelson, and fershman Emma Little. Let's see if the freshman adjust well to the 6k from the 5k. Our girls have a tendency of starting slow, and especially in bigger meets will fall behind at the beginning of the race. It hurt them at conference and regionals last year terribly. So lets hope they get out fast especially in a race with 47 schools. Yale and North Carolina will be the teams to watch. Women competing are: Julia Abell, Katelyn Buckley, Kennedy Fontenot, Brooke Forbes, Gemma Goddard, Emma Little, Maddie Livingston, Dierdre Nelson, Siena Palicke, Grace Plain, Mary Grace Rodriguez, Abbey Santoro.