Aggie Men Move Up to No. 14 in National Cross Country Poll

The first national poll of the regular season has the Texas A&M men ranked No. 14, the highest ranking in school history for the cross country program. In the preseason poll, released a couple of weeks ago, the Aggies were tabbed No. 15 after finishing 18th in the 2011 NCAA Championships.

Among SEC schools Texas A&M is the top ranked men’s team with Arkansas at No. 23 and Georgia at No. 30. Florida is among teams receiving votes. SEC schools in the women’s national poll include No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 9 Arkansas, and No. 29 Florida.

After winning the Baylor Twilight by a point, 37-38, over the host Bears a couple of weeks ago, Texas A&M returns to action this Friday by competing in Houston at the Rice Twilight. The Aggie men will face five of the top 10 teams from the South Central Region over a 6,000-meter course on the Rice campus at 6:45 p.m. The women’s 4,000-meter race will start at 6:15 p.m.

“This is another early season opportunity for us to see where we are at this point in the season,” said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “For several of our athletes this will be their rust-buster to open the season. For others, it will be a chance to improve on their performances from two weeks ago. I always tell our athletes that there is no more race specific training than racing. This race can only serve to make us better in the future. This is part of the process of getting ready for November.”

The Aggie men remain ranked No. 2 in the South Central poll while the A&M women remain ranked No. 3. In the men’s field at the Rice Twilight the Aggies will compete against other South Central ranked teams that include No. 4 Lamar, No. 5 Rice, No. 6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, No. 7 McNeese State, No. 10 Houston, and No. 15 Houston Baptist.

“I’m glad that we will get to face a few more quality teams in this meet,” noted McRaven. “That was one of the things I was hoping for when we added this meet to our schedule. It will help break up the routine of only running with one another. Now we have some different colored uniforms added into the mix. It should be fun.”

Henry Lelei, ninth in last year’s NCAA Championship meet and the South Central individual champion, will compete in his first race this fall and leads a group of 13 Aggies into the Rice Twilight. The A&M squad competing in Houston this week also includes five other runners who were part of the Aggie team that qualified for the NCAA Championship field a year ago. That group includes C.J. Brown, Stephen Curry, James Hodges, MacLean O’Donnell and Isaac Spencer.

For the Aggie women, the Rice Twilight field includes three other regionally ranked teams – No. 8 Rice, No. 9 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and No. 12 Lamar. A crew of 17 A&M women will compete this week. Competing in their first meet of the season are veterans Gabby Salazar and Tara Upshaw along with newcomer Rachel Williams.

The Aggie women finished third at the Baylor Twilight behind the host Bears and SMU two weeks ago as they were led by a pair of top 10 finishes from Sophie Blake and Amanda Jenkins. Texas A&M women remain ranked No. 3 in the South Central region behind Arkansas and Texas while ahead of Baylor and SMU.

USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll – September 11, 2012

MEN
1. Wisconsin (9) 355
2. Oklahoma State (2) 347
3. BYU (1) 341
4. Oklahoma 303
5. Colorado 294
6. Portland 292
Texas 292
8. Iona 276
9. Stanford 263
10. Florida State 234
11. North Carolina State 229
12. Syracuse 221
13. Indiana 216
14. Texas A&M 189
15. Princeton 169
16. Georgetown 168
17. Minnesota 149
18. Northern Arizona 139
19. Villanova 132
20. Michigan 125
Tulsa 125
22. Oregon 113
23. Arkansas 110
24. New Mexico 87
25. Notre Dame 76
26. Washington State 64
27. Eastern Kentucky 57
28. Columbia 48
29. UCLA 45
30. Georgia 28

WOMEN
1. Washington (4) 347
2. Oregon (5) 345
3. Florida State (2) 338
4. Georgetown (1) 334
5. Iowa State 303
6. Vanderbilt 292
7. Providence 289
8. Stanford 272
9. Arkansas 251
10. Villanova 243
11. Michigan 232
12. Arizona 216
13. Michigan State 186
14. Boston College 182
15. Virginia 178
16. Colorado 170
17. Weber State 149
18. Toledo 129
19. San Francisco 127
20. Syracuse 125
21. Notre Dame 111
22. Oklahoma State 109
23. Penn State 107
24. New Mexico 105
25. West Virginia 95
26. North Carolina State 63
27. Texas 60
28. Princeton 58
29. Florida 56
30. Minnesota 32

SOUTH CENTRAL REGION

Men
1. Texas
2. Texas A&M
3. Arkansas
4. Lamar
5. Rice
6. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
7. McNeese State
8. UTSA
9. Stephen F. Austin
10. Houston
11. Arkansas-Little Rock
12. UTPA
13. Baylor
14. LSU
15. Houston Baptist

Women
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
4. Baylor
5. SMU
6. UTSA
7. TCU
8. Rice
9. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
10. Stephen F. Austin
11. Sam Houston State
12. Lamar
13. Arkansas State
14. UT Arlington
15. Arkansas-Little Rock

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