Both Texas A&M men’s and women’s cross country placed sixth on Friday, Oct. 31, at the SEC Cross Country Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Cherokee Farm Cross Country Course, home to the Tennessee Volunteers, hosted all 16 SEC teams in the women’s event and 14 teams in the men’s event, excluding South Carolina and Mississippi State.
In the Aggies’ biggest meet of the season, junior Jack Johnston placed 20th overall and first for the Aggies in the 8K with a time of 23:52.72, followed closely by senior Cooper Cawthra, who finished 23rd with a time of 24:02.35.
The Aggie men upset No. 26 Ole Miss on the way to earning 163 points. No. 8 Alabama won the event with 64 points, blowing by second-place No. 20 Georgia with 123 points. No. 29 Oklahoma, Arkansas and No. 22 Missouri rounded out the top-5 teams.
“The men had just an okay day today,” distance coach Wendel McRaven said in a press release. “We moved up from eighth last year, but I think we are capable of more. They are leaving the meet with a little bit of a bitter taste in their mouth and hungry to make amends at the regional meet. Jack [Johnston] ran well, and Carter [Gordy] did a solid job as our number five.”
On the women’s side, sophomore Joyce Kemboi and freshman Debora Cherono finished less than three seconds apart in the 6K, finishing 16th with a time of 20:29.20 and 17th in 20:31.36, respectively. Sophomore Megan Roberts finished 28th overall in 20:50.16.
The women’s team also placed sixth in the 6K with 175 points, barely trailing fifth-place Missouri with 172 points. The Aggies passed No. 27 Tennessee in seventh place with 192 points. No. 3 Florida cruised to a first-place finish with 45 points, and No. 25 Alabama came in a distant second with 117 points, followed by No. 20 South Carolina, LSU and Missouri to round out the top five.
“I’m happy with the women’s result,” McRaven continued. “We were three points out of fifth and sixteen points out of fourth. This is the toughest women’s cross country conference in the country. They are knocking on the door to earn a trip to nationals. Joyce [Kemboi] and Debora [Cherono] did a great job of leading the charge and Megan [Roberts] wasn’t too far back. Excited to head to Fayetteville in two weeks for the regional.”
Since the Aggies did not finish as a top-two team in the region and did not have one of the top-four individual finishers, they will need to be selected by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee to compete at the NCAA South Central Regional at Agri Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday, Nov. 14.
