Cross Country Preview - Arturo Barrios InvitationalMeet: Arturo Barrios InvitationalDate: October 17thTime: Men - 8:30, Women - 9:15Location: Dale Watts Cross Country Course - Texas A&M UniversityDistance: Men 8k, Women 6kOther Notable School: LSU, Middle Tennessee State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Tulsa, UTEP, Wake ForestLive Results:
https://flashresults.com/2026_Meets/xc/ArturoBarrios/index.htmMeet Preview
Back home. Dale Watts. Aggie cross country is back home this Friday for its last regular season tuneup before conference and regionals roll around. The Aggies will host a huge meet with around 40 schools. While most are schools from Texas, we'll also have teams from all over the country to provide for a great meet experience.
If you are in the area, hopefully you can head out to the course and enjoy a great competitive meet. The meets are great to watch and enjoy! Sadly it is also the last chance to watch this team race at home all year! While usually we are able to host a post season meet, this year we won't! So please head out to Dale and cheer on our amazing distance runners!
All Aggies are scheduled to run. Although wishful thinking, I think some runners will be out on the women's side. But I would love to see Victor Kibiego and Debora Cherono race again and see how they improve from meet 1 to meet 2. This meet will have some elite competition at the top. Schools like the Tech men and LSU women have added many international runners to their team. So our top runners will be pushed and this will make for an extremely fast and competitive meet.
Our women ran great in Pennsylvania last time out. Debora Cherono made her cross country debut and ran extremely well. It was Megan Roberts who led the way for the Aggies as she continues her meteoric rise to elite status. Joyce Kemboi continues to establish herself towards the top of our lineup and her addition to this team has been understated. Staucie Lees ran her best race in her collegiate career finishing 4th for us and Elise Smoot rounded out our top 5. Our young freshman ran well but felt the pain of a hot start in their first ever 6k race. Something to look forward to is how these freshman run a 6k after having one under their belt. The distance will take time to adjust too, but I'm sure they'll make big strides due to their talent. I hope Kennady Fontenot and Emma Little are healthy, we could use their experience and talent. If they can't run, I want to see the gap between our 3rd and 4th runner shorten. Roberts, Cherono, and Kemboi can run up top, to lower our team score we'll need someone else to breakthrough! I can't wait to see who it is, that's the beauty of having depth.
On the men's side, it'll be nice to see Victor Kibiego in another race. However, we can't discount the huge season Cooper Cawthra is having. After an all American track season, his gains and strides continue on the grass. I expect him to have a huge meet at home in his last race on this course! (Unless he comes back for another year because why not lol) Jack Johnston has a huge race last time out earning a top ten finish in the huge field. He was a mainstay at the top last season and he's taken another jump this year, I'm excited to see him run again! Youssef Asslouj, a transfer from the Cumberlands, made his Aggie debut and ran exceptionally well too! Carter Gordy finished in our top 5 once again and he continues to boost our team. There was a gap after these 5. The guys went out hard and paid the price, but I know they're are capable and they will bounce back. These meets are for taking chances to see where your fitness is at. I think we see more of a pack running style and have us finish strong.
It should be a great meet at home. I'm excited to see how we run this strategically. It's the last meet before conference and regionals, so it's our last chance to be tactical and experiment with paces and timing. We'll have some elite runners take the race out hard, especially on the men's side. So it'll be fun to see our response! The team races will be really tight and competitive, I think our depth will give us an advantage, as will having some top ten finishes! Let's close the gap between 1-5 and let's put on a show at home! PACK DALE!