BIRMINGHAM – Texas A&M senior Henry Lelei (La-lay) earned a third SEC Runner of the Week honor after placing fourth among the national caliber field assembled at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational this past weekend.

Lelei clocked 23:26 on the 8,000-meter course, improving the 24:16 he ran the previous year in placing 26th during the 2011 race. Lelei finished behind the 2011 NCAA champion, Arizona’s Lawi Lalang (23:03), and the 2010 NCAA runner-up in Stephen Sambu (23:07), also of Arizona.

The Aggie men placed 19th among 45 teams at the Wisconsin Invitational and returned to the national rankings at No. 29. Previously this season A&M reached a best of 14th in the USTFCCCA national coaches’ poll. In the South Central region rankings the Aggie men are currently No. 3 while the A&M women are No. 5.

Oklahoma State became the new No. 1 men’s team as Wisconsin, the defending national champions, dropped from the top spot to No. 20 after placing 17th at its home meet. The rest of the new top 10 for this week includes Colorado, Stanford, Iona, BYU, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Arkansas and Columbia. Other SEC schools in the men’s poll include Georgia at No. 28 while Missouri is receiving votes.

The women’s national top 10 includes Florida State, Iowa State, Oregon, Stanford, Arizona, Washington, Michigan, Cornell, Georgetown and Providence. SEC teams in the national poll include Arkansas at No. 12, Vanderbilt at No. 28, and Florida at No. 30, while Kentucky is receiving votes.

Up next for the Aggies is the SEC Championships, held Friday, Oct. 26, in Nashville, Tennessee with Vanderbilt serving as the host school. The conference meet will take place at Percy Warner Park with the women starting at 10 a.m. on a 6,000-meter course while the men cover an 8,000-meter course beginning at 11 a.m.

HOUSTON BAPTIST OPEN – STERLING CLAIMS VICTORY, AGGIE WOMEN WIN TEAM TITLE
A second group of Aggie runners competed at the Houston Baptist Open this past Friday in Houston. The Texas A&M women won the meet with 20 points as they were led by Heather Sterling’s individual winning effort. Sterling ran the three-mile course in 17:56 to finish ahead of Houston Baptist’s Jessica Whitt (18:02).

The Aggies claimed four of the top five places with Laura Craig (18:33), Johanna Galloway (18:44) and Julie Blanco (18:45). Margo Lyons rounded out the scoring five in seventh place (19:05) while Rachel Williams was the sixth runner in 12th place (19:35).

Four Aggie men competed in the meet. The leading duo was Jake Hervey (20:42) and Jake Roberts (20:43), who placed sixth and seventh on the four-mile course. Weston O’Donnell (21:24) finished 16th while Dylan Williams (21:54) placed 23rd.

USTFCCCA NATIONAL RANKINGS
MEN
Rank

Institution (FPV)

Points

Region

Conference
1

Oklahoma State (6)

353

Midwest

Big 12
2

Colorado (4)

343

Mountain

Pac-12
3

Stanford (2)

339

West

Pac-12
4

Iona

322

Northeast

Metro Atlantic
5

BYU

316

Mountain

West Coast
6

Oklahoma

306

Midwest

Big 12
7

Texas

283

South Central

Big 12
8

Oregon

275

West

Pac-12
9

Arkansas

257

South Central

SEC
10

Columbia

251

Northeast

Ivy
11

Michigan

227

Great Lakes

Big Ten
12

New Mexico

206

Mountain

Mountain West
13

Eastern Kentucky

198

Southeast

Ohio Valley
14

Florida State

186

South

ACC
15

UCLA

182

West

Pac-12
16

Syracuse

165

Northeast

Big East
17

Portland

159

West

West Coast
18

Duke

146

Southeast

ACC
19

Tulsa

139

Midwest

Conf. USA
20

Wisconsin

134

Great Lakes

Big Ten
21

Virginia Tech

131

Southeast

ACC
22

Northern Arizona

126

Mountain

Big Sky
23

Princeton

115

Mid-Atlantic

Ivy
24

Indiana

103

Great Lakes

Big Ten
25

Iowa State

80

Midwest

Big 12
25

Villanova

80

Mid-Atlantic

Big East
27

Georgetown

49

Mid-Atlantic

Big East
28

Georgia

47

South

SEC
29

Texas A&M

38

South Central

SEC
30

Kansas

15

Midwest

Big 12

WOMEN
Rank

Institution (FPV)

Points

Region

Conference
1

Florida State (11)

359

South

ACC
2

Iowa State (1)

346

Midwest

Big 12
3

Oregon

332

West

Pac-12
4

Stanford

330

West

Pac-12
5

Arizona

307

West

Pac-12
6

Washington

295

West

Pac-12
7

Michigan

280

Great Lakes

Big Ten
7

Cornell

280

Northeast

Ivy
9

Georgetown

261

Mid-Atlantic

Big East
10

Providence

257

Northeast

Big East
11

Duke

234

Southeast

ACC
12

Arkansas

229

South Central

SEC
13

Penn State

211

Mid-Atlantic

Big Ten
14

Texas

202

South Central

Big 12
15

Michigan State

180

Great Lakes

Big Ten
16

Weber State

176

Mountain

Big Sky
17

New Mexico

157

Mountain

Mountain West
18

William and Mary

149

Southeast

Colonial
19

Notre Dame

146

Great Lakes

Big East
20

Toledo

134

Great Lakes

Mid-American
21

Colorado

116

Mountain

Pac-12
22

Yale

105

Northeast

Ivy
22

Villanova

105

Mid-Atlantic

Big East
24

UCLA

68

West

Pac-12
25

Minnesota

67

Midwest

Big Ten
26

Boston College

61

Northeast

ACC
27

Oklahoma State

53

Midwest

Big 12
28

Vanderbilt

48

South

SEC
29

Connecticut

25

Northeast

Big East
30

Florida

24

South

SEC

SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
Men: 1. Texas; 2. Arkansas; 3. Texas A&M; 4. McNeese State; 5. Lamar; 6. Rice; 7. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; 8. UT-Arlington; 9. Stephen F. Austin; 10. Central Arkansas.

Women: 1. Arkansas; 2. Texas; 3. SMU; 4. LSU; 5. Texas A&M; 6. Baylor; 7. UTSA; 8. TCU; 9. Stephen F. Austin; 10. Arkansas State.