Casarez in 7th, everyone else moved up! About 1k to go

6th - Eric Casarez - 23:14
65th - Chandon Chhikara - 23:46
98th - Jonathan Chung - 24:02
123rd - Gavin Hoffpauir - 24:14
168th - Joseph Benn - 24:31

172nd - Cooper Cawthra - 24:33
179th - Kyle Johnson - 24:35

After last 1.7k the men fall to 16th, Chhikara and Benn fell back a little.

But what a race for Casarez! After a slow start to come back and finish 6th is wild!! Casarez is an All American runner and he's proving so! He lost to two North Carolina runners, 2 from Villanova, and one from Utah State

This meet was a big experience for our men! We haven't really faced this type of competition ever! So it's good to see us up there! Casarez really showed out and is showing he will compete in any and every meet! Chhikara ran really well and ate up soooo much ground throughout the race but seems to have paid for it towards the end. Still the contribution he is bringing is undeniable! We should be thankful he joined our program! Chung is staying consistent and we love to see that! Hoffpauir was off his PR but is assuring his spot in the top 5 as he should! Our number 5 has been interchangeable, however we need them to step up and pick up the slack! We could've fought for a top ten spot! But a great learning tool as I believe this type of race will prepare us for running in a large meet like regionals!

After 1 mile the girls are in 23rd, Plain is leading the way in 93rd, followed by Santoro, Abell, Rodriguez, Livingston

They will eat up ground and move up as well!

Goddard did not run

After 2 miles Plain moves up 7 spots, Abell up 58, Santoro up 46, Livingston up 32, Fontenot and Little up 10 spots. Up to 21st as a team

At least we're beating Rice

66. Grace Plain - 20:32
82. Julia Abell - 20:41
105. Abbey Santoro - 20:53
148. Maddie Livingston - 21:12
150. Kennady Fontenot - 21:13

158. Emma Little - 21:16
220. Deirdre Nelson - 21:36

Facing tough competition our girls place 19th out of 48 teams. Without a superstar all American athelte it's hard to score high as a team in a field of 400+ runners! Grace Plain with a 49 second PR wow! Abell, Santoro, Livingston all PR!! And great 6k debuts for Fontenot and Little! We did take down Rice our regional foe! Like the men, would have loved a faster start but they all finished strong which is nice to see! Great PR's and great experience!

Take away Grace Forbes from Rice and they place 30th. Give us Grace Forbes and we place 12th! That's how important it is to have a full ride super star all American in cross country for these big meets!

Is it hard to recruit one top international runner?

Our girls would be a lock for nationals behind Arkansas in our region with one top girl! Rice will have an advantage with Forbes, Texas has Beth Ramos and a solid crew like ours, ACU has two strong Kenyan girls that could break the top ten at regionals, and well Arkansas is Arkansas. I think Texas would be the tougher comp for 2nd, Rice and ACU will be tough but don't have the depth! Texas has Ramos who can go low 20, we just need our 1-5 to take down their 2-5

We've struggled with sprints on the girls side and throws besides jav, so why not invest in our distance program! They're showing improvement and building a culture!

USTFCCCA Regional Rankings

Women: Arkansas, texas, A&M, LSU, Rice

Men: texas, Arkansas, A&M, Tulane, Arkansas State

On the men's side the first two are clear and cut above the rest and I believe theres a gap behind us as well! The women's side however is pretty close and I believe we can easily be number two behind Arkansas!! it'll all come down to who are number 5 is and how well they can do at regionals!

taylorswift13's Cross Country Runners of the Meet

Eric Casarez - Jr. Fort Worth, Texas - Keller Central - Oklahoma
Get this man a walker because he must be sore from carrying the team on his back!!! Eric Casarez placed 6th at the Paul Short Run @ Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA with an impressive 8k time of 23:14.2! Just off his PR but behind several all American runners who competed at nationals last year!! He carried the team to a 16th place team finish!! Casarez did get out slow and had to expend energy to reach the top group and stay with them. He carried on with his monster of a season! Expect his races to get better and better as he races some top runners at home before he goes and does well at conference and regionals on his way to nationals!!

Chandon Chhikara - Sr. Austin, Texas - St. Andrews Episcopal - Pepperdine
Chhikara placed 65th and ran an awesome 23:46. Chhikara is an awesome and unique story to dig into because prior to this season he ran as a freshman at Pepperdine and his 8k times were in the high 26's low 27's! He left Pepperdine shortly after and trained with a group called Born to Run in Austin where I believed he went to school and graduated there. Boooooooooo. But he found the light and committed to run for the good guys and is now a grad student here in Marketing! He ran unattached on the track last year and has Pb's of 1:51 in the 800, 3:46 in the 1500, and 14:06 in the 5000. He has solidified himself as our 2nd guy and I believe with more races and practices under his belt he will continue to improve and progress. He is going to help us tremendously on the xc course and the track this year! Glad he's an Aggie!


Grace Plain - Gr. McKinney, Texas - Friso Independence
Her production is beauty and she is Grace, Grace Plain that is! And she is also a dominant cross country runner and the leader of our women's group! Her best 6k times through the years are: 2018 - 22:55, 2019 - 23:02, 2020 - 21:21, 2021 - 21:37, 2022 - 20:32..... speechless!! She is the epitome of resiliency and hard work!! She had an up and down xc season last year!! She would struggle to finish races, then she bursted onto the scene during track and simply was a brand new runner. she ran with confidence and fearlessness and the results showed. Her progress and results have now carried to the xc course where she is dominating and leading us. Her 20:32 placed her 66th and she led the team to a 19th place finish!! I expect her to continue to build on her early success and momentum and lead us!! She has the potential to carry us to nationals if her teammates run strong behind her!

Might have to attend the Oct 15th meet and the regional since they are the only home meets left in the 22-23 sports year

Seems like our best bet!! Would love to see something magical happen at regionals though!

Hey @taylorswift13
Do you know of a Tianna (that's what I think I heard) on the track team?
I saw on Tierra Tiktok reel the sprint crew introducing themselves before practice yesterday. There was someone introducing herself as Tianna on the sprint team.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMF2yvRmA/

From what I found I think it's Dayana Felician, a freshman from Flour Mound. She has a windy PR of 11.68 in the 100 and 11.72 legally. Didn't really run 200's but did run all 3 relays.

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=14505661

Yes I think it is her

https://instagr.am/p/Cd4lT7SuIv6

Arturo Barrios Invitational Meet Preview

Host: Texas A&M
Meet: Arturo Barrios Invitational
Time: 9am (men), 9:45 (women)
Distance: 8k, 6k
Live Results: https://results.flashresults.com/2022_10-15_ArturoBarrios/index.htm
Other Notable Teams: Tulane, Florida, LSU, Rice, Arkansas State, Lipscomb, Baylor, Ohio State, Vanderbilt

https://12thman.com/news/2022/10/14/aggie-cross-country-host-arturo-barrios-invitational.aspx

Interesting to see Arkansas women struggle…

https://live.pttiming.com/XC-PTT.html?mid=5222

Beautiful day here at Dale Watts Cross Country Course. Men about to take off!! Fast starts are imperative today!

And that's exactly what the Aggie men do!!

Eric Casarez in 2nd

What a race by Francesco Romano to place 10th!!! His emergence is huge for us!!! Chung in 14th, Chhikara in 22nd, Hoffpauir in 25th! What a job by these Aggie men!!

Grace Plain not racing but cheering on her team and doesn't seem to be injured in any way

Grace Forbes of Rice not racing, but Parker Valby of Florida is and she is dominating the field

Parker Valby runs a 18:58 all alone! WOAH!

Aggie women come in 4th behind arguably 3 national qualifying teams… and that was without our leader Grace Plain! Abell leads us in 12th, Santoro in 26th, Deirdre Nelson with a huge race coming in 36th, Maddie Livingston in 39th, and Kennady Fontenot in 61st! Freshman Brooke Forbes and sophomore Katelyn Buckley round out the top 7!

Great job ags. And thanks to the twitter person for the videos.

🥈 @lil3ric88 👍

🥈 23:26.9

⏱ https://t.co/pmQ1R7d9SK#GigEm pic.twitter.com/QbUxek7V0F

— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) October 15, 2022

.@_juliaabell finishes first for the Maroon & White at 20:48.0.

⏱ https://t.co/pmQ1R7d9SK#GigEm pic.twitter.com/rNXo0EGBbg

— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) October 15, 2022

Results for tu

https://results.flashresults.com/2023_10-15_PanoramaXC23/index.htm