On Saturday, Oct. 15, Texas A&M cross country hosted and competed in the Arturo Barrios Invitational in Bryan.
The Arturo Barrios Invitational, named after famous long-distance runner and A&M alumnus Arturo Barrios, is run at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course. This year’s invitational hosted a slew of competitive teams, such as nationally ranked foes in Florida, Texas Tech, LSU, Ohio State, Tulane and Lipscomb, who swept first in both the men’s and women’s last year.
The Aggie men’s team took home first place out of 40, while the women’s team took fourth out of 41.
The men were once again led by junior Eric Casarez, who finished second out of 360 with a time of 23:26.9. Casarez continues his impressive season, as he is coming off of a sixth-place finish in the Paul Short Run and a first-place finish in the Texas A&M Invitational. Casarez is no stranger to this course, however, as he is the current Dale Watts Cross Country Course record holder with a time of 23:04.0.
Senior Francesco Romano had the next best time for the men’s team, finishing with a time of 24:04.6, which was good for 10th. Romano hails from Edwardsville, Ill., and is a graduate transfer from Eastern Illinois University, where he earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors each of his four years.
For the women’s team, senior Julia Abell led the pack with a time of 20:48.0, coming in 12th out of 326. Abell is coming off of an 82nd-place finish in the last competition at the Paul Short Run, where she was the second Aggie to finish.
Abbey Santoro was the second Aggie to finish for the women’s team, clocking in at 21:13.7 and finishing 25th. A senior from Keller High School in Keller, Santoro was the third Aggie to finish at the Paul Short Run, finishing 106th. Santoro is also 12th all time at Texas A&M in the indoor 5,000-meter race with a time of 16:47.03.
This was A&M cross country’s last home meet of the year, as they now prepare for the SEC Championships in Oxford, Miss., at the Ole Miss Golf Course on Oct. 28.
For more information on A&M cross country, visit 12thMan.com or find them on Twitter @aggietfxc.