The men and women will hit the road en route to South Bend, Indiana for Friday’s 8,000 and 5,000-meter races.
Now ranked as No. 3 men and No. 6 women in the South Central Region by USTFCCCA, the Aggies continue their trek to the SEC Championships in Fayetteville.
The meet is creeping up quickly, now less than a month away. Three meets remain including Friday’s face off where they will toe the line next to some of the nation’s best racers.
The Women’s Blue Division Race will set things underway with six teams ranked in Week 3’s top-30 and six more that received votes. The men will follow in line with six ranked teams and five unranked in the Men’s Blue Division Race. Competing teams include nationally ranked No. 1 Providence and No. 2 New Mexico as well as old-time rivals No. 30 Texas.
The Aggies participated in the Piane Invitational last year posting an impressive seventh place for the men while the women claimed 16th. The men were led by now seniors Cameron Villarreal who finished seventh among a field of 169, and Karis Jochen who headed the women’s effort finishing 15th of 174. Both will look to improve on last year’s performance in this weekend’s meet.
The men have claimed first in the last two competitions led by Villarreal with one individual title. The women have placed first and fifth in 2016’s competitions. Despite their sub-par performance last weekend at the Texas A&M Invitational, the women have been well led by All-American Jochen with individual victories in both meets.
“Our women are making nice progress,” said assistant coach Wendel McRaven.
The Aggies will be looking to bounce back in this season’s first road competition, as they set off at 1 p.m. CST Friday on the Notre Dame Golf Course.
