SAN JUANITA LEAL WINS IN HER AGGIE DEBUT

The more I think about San Juanita, for a freshman to win her first college meet is something else. Especially for a little girl from the valley!

Gig'em San Juanita!

TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL PREVIEW

Time: Men - 8am, Women - 8:45am
Location: HOME - Dale Watts Cross Country Course
Distance: Men - 8k, Women - 5k
Other Teams Competing: Baylor, Blinn, Houston, Louisiana, North Texas, Oklahoma, Sam Houston, SMU, St Edwards, A&M Commerce, Tarleton, TCU, Tulane, UT Arlington, UT Tyler, and 94 high schools lol
Live Results: https://flashresults.com/2025_Meets/xc/TAMUinvite/index.htm

Preview
The Great Pyramids of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Taj Mahal, Macchu Pichu, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Lighthouse of Alexandria, and DALE WATTS CROSS COUNTRY COURSE… just some of the wonders of this world! For those of you unfamiliar with the latter one, that is one of the most beautiful places to grace this beautiful Earth. A place where God's touch meets land, where the gracious Texas skies shine over a luscious evergreen landscape, where loops can be construed of different distances, and where our fightin Texas A&M Aggie Cross Country Teams convene to race on one of the most beautiful cross country courses built that's right here in College Station, Texas! Hyperbole, a little… hype and excitement for our cross country teams home opener, YES

Our Aggie distance runners are back home this weekend to race at the Texas A&M Invitational! Why we haven't named this meet like we did the Arturo Barrios Meet, I'm not sure! It can be the Henry Lelei Invitational, the Natosha Rogers Invite, the Taylor Swift Distance Festival… any would work, but cmon staff, let's name this meet!! But one reason could be is that this is a high school meet as well, and one with nearly 100 schools ranging from all regions of Texas!! In the past, this meet had not been a highly contested collegiate meet, but there are a lot more collegiate teams entered this year, including 2 of our main competitions for regionals! Tulane and the SMU ladies!

Unfortunately, there are still a few Aggies not listed to run for us. Most notably is Victor Kibiego, who understandably will he held out as will many top runners across the nation this early in the season! But also out on the men's side is senior Cooper Cawthra who won this meet last season! An omission that may cause concern, but I'll err on the side of precaution here! Also not running on the men's side is Ondrej Gajdos who didn't race last year, nor this season so far! On the women's side, Shewaye Johnson isn't listed to run and she's an integral part to our roster, I hope she's healthy! Also not running on the women's side is Amanda Hogan, Jamie Confer, and Brooke Forbes.

I'm so excited to see how our girls look! It's an early test, but I think we will respond well! Maddie Livingston when healthy can compete with anyone in the region and she will lead us to a great meet! Kennady Fontenot will always deliver and she can easily deliver a top ten performance, but I think she can move into the top 5! We also have San Juanita Leal who can not just only hang with these girls, but who has the potential to medal! She knows how to run a 5k! Maddie Peters and Staucie Lees have extreme talent as well! I'm also excited to see how Emma Little looks after her strong close to last season! I want to see if any other returners step up and run a great race!!

Team wise, this meet will be very interesting because on the ladies side Tulane will be here, and Tulane is ranked right behind us. It'll be Tulane and us fighting for the top team spot, although don't put much stock into because both teams are incomplete! They have a strong squad that won the American conference last year! They have some very strong seniors in Gemma Rebollo, Lilly Bell, and Danna Diaz who all finished in the top 20 at regionals last year! However, they added two Kenyans who are SPECIAL and FAST! That is why without Debora Cherono on our roster, makes nationals just a bit harder because Tulane returns these 3 girls and adds two Kenyans who can possibly be top 5 or top 10 in the region! The two Kenyans Caroline Jeptanui and Blezzin Kimutai are set to run Friday so we have to pay attention to how they race and where they are in the standings in relation to our top ladies! This is a Tulane team that's all in on making it to nationals! But I want to see how our girls look!


Can our top girls run with their top girls??? This is a team sport so regardless of what their top is, can their other runners compete with us! Last year Maddie Livingston and Kennady Fontenot beat their top girls! The questions are is Maddie Livingston the same Maddie Livingston from last year and was the first meet just a tuneup? If so then watch out for what this team can do! Right behind her or with her will be Kennady Fontenot, I'm expecting her to take her game this year to another level, how great can she be?? Are our freshman the real deal and can San Juanita Leal and Maddie Peters run with the top girls, can San Juanita run with the other top collegians, I think so! With Shewaye Johnson not racing, who's going to step up, we know we can rely on Emma Little, let's she her growth this season! I want to see who else will breakthrough, will it be Avery Perkins, Elise Smoot, a College Station product! I can't wait to find out!


Other female names to look out for on the girls side aside from our Aggies and Tulane are: Matro Jekemboi (UTA), Leah Jeruto (Arkansas), Kaitlyn Gearin (SMU) Ruth Kimeli (Baylor)



On the men's side it will hurt not having Victor Kibiego run, but his health and longevity are much more important! Having Cooper Cawthra out hurts as well! But we will be lead by senior Jonathan Chung! Although he has his best races at the end of the season, I think he leads this team and paces us up front! With him is a bevy of young talented sophomores like Zack Munger, Jack Johnston, Carter Gordy, Luca Santorum, Aiden Gonzalez-Rodiles, Noah Willows, Diego Heredia, and Gilbert Rono! All this group have talent, but this season we need to see which ones will rise above the rest and establish themselves as consistent scorers within our top 5! Anything below 25 minutes and closer to 24 is a great time for us to follow if it's an honest race!

Competition wise it will be similar to the girls as it will be between Tulane and us, with the Tulane men going in as more of the favorites. Tulane will be the cream of the crop as they competed with tu and Arkansas last year at the regional meet and they return everyone but their leading runner! HOWEVER, like the Tulane women, they added a Kenyan in Bernard Cheryuiot, who ran a 5k all by himself in 14 FLAT! I'm not sure about his 8k pace, but that for a 5k is wild! They also return Jack Jennings who finished 7th at regionals and Illia Kunin who finished 11th! They also have some quality transfers to look out for! They have all their top guys listed so a good measuring stick is to see where we stand in comparison to them! Running with them and getting out to a great start will be important!

But the beauty of this sport is that anything can happen on any given race! You are defined by a time and placing in this sport! What if your legs don't feel 100 percent, what if you are a bad meal, or had a bad sleep! Anything can happen once that gun goes off! Not every single person on a team will have their best day the same day, the goal is which team has the more consistent showing! It'll be a fun battle between us and the green wave! But I want to see that Green Wave come to a halt as it passes through Aggieland!! I'm so excited to have cross country back at home! I wish I could be at the meet, but I want to see a sea of maroon roaring as our runners come down the home stretch! These meets are really really fun and a great experience! You can traverse around the course, watch our Aggies pass through multiple checkpoints and witness some great racing! So head on out there if you can! I promise you'll enjoy it! Let's hope for a great safe meet!!! Gig'em and sorry for writing a lot lol