The Texas A&M men’s and women’s cross country teams finished their regular season by hosting and competing in the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Friday, Oct. 13, at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course. The event had the Maroon and White finish fourth in the men’s 8k race and seventh in the women’s 6k race.
The Aggies were coming off the Battle in Beantown, a Boston College-hosted event where A&M saw its women’s team finish third and the men’s team finish fifth.
As for the Arturo Barrios Invitational, 39 schools had their men’s team compete and 41 schools had their women’s team compete.
Senior Eric Casarez first clocked in for the Aggies with a first-place time of five minutes and 43.9 seconds in the first split of the race at the 2k mark. Following Casarez, junior Jonathan Chung clocked in at the ninth spot with a time of 5:44.9. Junior Siddharth Jayaraman, freshman Jack Johnston and Cooper Cowthra each reached the 2k mark back-to-back-to-back as they placed 50th, 51st and 52nd with times of 5:51.7, 5:51.8 and 5:52.
Around the 5.6k mark, Casarez fell to sixth place after being placed first at the 2k mark. However, when the race made it to the 5.6k mark, Casarez improved to third place with a time of 16:14.1. Following Casarez, Chung was at 25th with a time of 16:46 and Cawthra climbed up to 31st with a time of 16:48.2. At 48th, freshman Aiden Gonzales-Rodiles had a time of 17:00.4 and junior Joseph Benn placed 52nd with a time of 17:02.6 after placing 93rd at the 2k split.
The men’s 8k race had five members of the Fighting Farmers finish in the top 100 to propel the Aggies to their fourth-place finish. The first Aggie to finish was Casarez, finishing third in the race with a time of 23:05.3. Following him were Cawthra and Gonzales-Rodiles, who finished 26th and 42nd, respectively. The last two Aggies to finish in the top 100 were Chung and Benn, who finished 57th and 64th with times of 24:18.5 and 24:24.3.
The women’s 2k split also had an Aggie at the first place spot with junior Maddie Livingston getting there with a time of 6:33.1. The next members of the Maroon and White to reach the 2k mark were senior Madison Brown and sophomore Kennady Fontenot with times of 6:38.6 and 6:38.8 to place 34th and 36th, respectively. The final Aggie to have a place in the top 50 at this point in the race was freshman Shewaye Johnson, who at that point was placed 42nd with a time of 6:40.
The second to last split before the final mark for the women’s team was the 4.1k mark. Livingston fell to ninth place with a time of 13:44.9. The next two Aggies to clock in were Fontenot with a time of 14:04.6 and Brown with a time of 14:05.2 for 32nd and 36th place, respectively. A&M had one more runner finish in the top 50, with Johnson finishing 43rd with a time of 14:07.1.
For the women’s squad, A&M had four Aggies finish in the top 50 to help A&M finish seventh. Livingston and Fontenot finished first for the Aggies in 18th and 25th with times of 20:11.9 and 20:18.1. The next two to finish for A&M were Brown with a time of 20:27.3 for 37th and Johnson with a time of 20:37.8 to finish 47th.
A&M will next compete at the SEC Championship on Friday, Oct. 27, in West Columbia, South Carolina.