The Texas A&M men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished in the top 10 while hosting the NCAA South Central Regional at the Watts Cross Country Course on Friday.
Described as an “absolute humdinger” by the announcer, Arkansas took home the women’s 6K title with a score of 80, followed right behind by Texas with an 81. The A&M women finished in sixth place at 164. Arkansas won the men’s 10K division with a score of 33, with A&M finishing in fourth place at 127.
Sophomore Shewaye Johnson and junior Kennady Fontenot received South Central Region honors with 22nd- and 23rd-place finishes in the 6K to close out the 2024 cross country season. Freshman Gilbert Rono and sophomore Zack Munger also received South Central Region honors, finishing 17th and 19th, respectively, in the 10K.
The women’s team had two top-25 finishers, with Johnson stepping up with a final push to the front to lead the A&M squad in a time of 20 minutes and 8.4 seconds. Fontenot kept a consistent pace in 23rd place at the 2K split, ultimately finishing behind Johnson at 20:17.4. Freshman Megan Roberts finished 34th with 20:34.2, while freshman Maddie Peters finished 38th with 20:38.2.
Coming around the back corner by the 2K split, the women’s team stuck together with Roberts leading in 22nd place, Fontenot in 23rd, Peters in 24th and Johnson not far behind in 29th, keeping A&M at fifth overall. At the 2.9K split, Johnson caught up to her teammates, with Roberts holding 23rd, Fontenot in 24th, Johnson in 25th and Peters in 26th, with the overall ranking moving to sixth for the A&M women.
Reaching the 4.1K split, Johnson started climbing up, getting to 20th, with Fontenot following behind in 26th. At the 5K split, Johnson was in 18th with Fontenot in 24th.
“The great thing was they were all there for each other at the finish,” distance coach Wendel McRaven said. “It’s not the same tears as last year, of joy, rather of disappointment, but hopefully they’ll grow from it.”
At the 2023 NCAA South Central Regionals, the women’s squad qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in 23 years with a second-place finish.
“We can’t talk about a year from now without talking about what we have to do over the next year, so we’re back to what we felt a year ago,” McRaven said.
The men’s team finished fourth overall with Rono and Munger leading the A&M in the men’s 10K as top-25 finishers. Rono finished with a time of 29 minutes 55.8 seconds with Munger close behind at 29:59.8. Sophomores Jack Johnston and Aiden Gonzalez-Rodiles and senior Jonathan Chung finished 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
“We knew if we wanted to make it as a team, we just had to stick our nose in there, and they did a good job of that,” McRaven said. “Hopefully, this gives them the perspective of what it takes to make that next step.”
At the 2K split, the men’s team had three in the top-10 pack, with Munger holding third place, Johnston behind in seventh and Rono following in eighth to position A&M in second overall. Approaching the halfway mark at the 4.2K split, Munger still led the team, now in 12th, with Chung advancing from 17th to 13th with Rono behind in 15th and Johnston in 16th, enough to keep A&M in second place.
At 6.3K, Munger still led A&M at 11th place with Rono right behind him at 12th and Chung and Johnston in 21st and 22nd, respectively, leaving A&M tied with Texas for third. At the last stretch, Munger was at 13th, Rono at 14th, Chung at 25th, Johnston at 27th and Gonzalez-Rodiles not far behind in 32nd, with the tie giving way to A&M for fourth place.
Olivia Biggs is a general studies junior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.
