ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Texas A&M’s cross country season begins this week with a trip to the University of New Mexico for Saturday’s 11th annual Lobo Invitational. The men’s 8,000-meter race begins at 9:45 a.m. (MST) while the women’s 5,000-meter race starts at 10:15 a.m. (MST) on the UNM North Golf Course.

A week after their season opening meet the Aggies will host the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday evening, September 10, at the Penberthy intramural fields on the A&M campus.

“This season I know Coach Waters is excited about the group he has in cross country,” said Aggie head coach Pat Henry. “We have some good returning talent, with a couple of good up-front runners. I know Coach Waters is also excited about some of the new talent we have now added to the program.”

Current rankings for the 2010 season have the Aggie men No. 3 in the South Central Region while the women are No. 6. The host New Mexico Lobo men and women are each ranked No. 3 in the Mountain Region.

Traveling to the Lobo Invitational this weekend for the Aggie men are Will Barry, Chad Brown, Kevin Burnett, Stephen Curry, Austin Geerts, Ryan Miller, MacLean O’Donnell, Jimmy Welin and Dylan Williams. The A&M women will send a crew that includes Sophie Blake, Itzel Cetina, Katherine Devlin, Colbea Harris, Amanda Jenkins, Kasey McNorton, McKenzie Neal, Natosha Rogers and Gabby Salazar.

With each nine-runner squad for the Aggies featuring a blend of lettermen and newcomers, Burnett is one of the top returners for the men’s squad while Devlin sets the pace the women.

In 2009, behind a trio of graduated seniors, Burnett was the fifth finisher on the A&M cross country team at the Big 12 Championships and the fourth Aggie runner at the South Central region meet. During the 2010 track season Burnett blossomed with personal best times over 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

A time of 8:07.73 by Burnett bettered a 20-year-old Aggie indoor school record in the 3,000. Then he set a career best of 14:08.06 in the 5,000 outdoors to win the Oregon Pepsi Team Invitational and become the fifth fastest Aggie in the event.

In her first cross country season with A&M Devlin led the Aggie women during last year’s South Central region race. Then she established three career-best times over 10,000 meters during the outdoor track season topping her efforts with a 34:49.80 and included a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships.