The Texas A&M Cross Country team will send sophomore Jon Bishop and senior Christian Farris to the NCAA Cross Country Championships after they qualified in the South Central Regional hosted in College Station, where they finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
As a sophomore, this will mark Bishop’s first appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championship. Bishop clocked in at 30:03.8, while Farris did better than his last two years’ performance when he finished 14th at 30:05.2.
A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven was quick to praise the breakout performance of Bishop and the consistency of Farris.
“Talk about a breakthrough for Jon Bishop. We kind of expected Christian Farris to be up there,” McRaven said. “He did a great job of executing the race plan and being in the race. At some points I was concerned he was being too aggressive in the lead group, but each time I saw him he looked relaxed and comfortable. Christian ran a very Christian-like race, he was up with the leaders, engaged and closed really well.”
According to Bishop, he and Farris could hardly hold their emotions together as they were very excited to be a part of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
“Really the only thought I have right now is wow, energy,” Bishop said. “Running the course everybody was so loud. When you got onto the main platform, running through crowds of people, it was insanely loud. I just took in that energy during my race. It turned into a really happy moment.”
Farris said he could not find the words to describe the emotions he felt when he qualified for the next round of the NCAA Championships.
“I’m pretty speechless, it’s crazy,” Farris said. “This has been a dream of mine since three years ago, when I transferred to Texas A&M. Throughout the race I wasn’t feeling that great. At 5k, I was okay and feeling comfortable, but by 7k I was hurting pretty bad. Then I managed to pull it out. I had a kick and finished well.”
The NCAA Cross Country Championships start on Nov.18 in Louisville, Kentucky.