The Texas A&M cross country men’s and women’s teams competed at the University of Mississippi’s golf course for the cross country SEC championship on Friday, Oct. 18. The women’s cross country team competed in the 6,000-meter race, and the men’s cross country team competed in the 8,000-meter race.
The Aggie women’s cross country team finished eighth out of the 14 schools that competed, and the men’s cross country team finished fifth out of the 12 schools that competed.
The women’s team scored 208 points to get to their eighth place spot, and the men’s team scored 126 points to get to their fifth place spot. This was the highest place for the women’s team since 2017 and the highest for the men’s team since 2019.
148 contestants competed in the women’s competition. Seniors Julia Abell and Abbey Santoro finished 25th and 34th with times of 20:33.67 and 20:50.39, respectively. The other Aggie that finished top 50 is sophomore Maddie Livingston with a time of 21:09.61 that resulted in a 49th-place finish.
Out of the 104 contestants for the men’s competition, junior Eric Casarez finished eighth. Following Casarez, senior Francesco Romano and junior Chandon Chhikara placed back-to-back by finishing 22th and 23rd, respectively. The remaining Aggies to get into the top 50 were senior Gavin Hoffpauir and sophomore Jonathan Chung, who finished 34th and 41st in the race with times of 24:24.07 and 24:33.13, respectively.
According to 12thMan.com, A&M distance coach Wendel McRaven was pleased with both of the performances put on by the teams today.
“It was a good effort on the men’s side. Women’s side, we’re heading back in the right direction,” McRaven said. “We’re never going to do backflips after getting fifth and eighth, but we can be excited about the progression and the progress we’re making individually and as a team.”
The A&M cross country head coach Pat Henry walked away feeling like the competition was a success.
“We have a competitive group of guys, and it’ll be fun to see them continue to improve. And the women, we just have to keep getting better. The ladies had a good showing today,” Henry said. “For Texas A&M cross country and coach McRaven, this was a very successful day.”
Both coaches were very impressed with Casarez’s eighth-place performance. Where he made it to All-SEC second team honors and achieved the highest finish of his career. He finished 15th in 2019, 36th in 2020 and 25th in 2021.
“I’m pleased with Eric [Casarez’s] race,” McRaven said. “The way that he put himself up there early on and made the other guys work a little bit.”
“It’s great to see Eric [Casarez] do what he did here today,” McRaven said. “That’s a big time finish. This is a great conference, and to be in that top group is a great run for him.”
The Aggies will compete in the NCAA South Central Regional on Friday, Nov. 11 in College Station at their very own Dale Watts Cross Country Course.