They know their home course well. Know how to pace themselves 'just right'. But some good teams in the field so they had to run well ... and they did.

Several small schools did really well. Impressive.

Exactly! What makes me the most excited is how they finished extremely strong! Much better than last week so their fitness is improving! Youssef Asslouj and Carter Gordy finished extremely well passing some people!

Being from Corpus I always want the Islanders to do good - and they did.

Nice win! I haven't been following close this year, how are we looking in SEC standings?

Team Scores

1. Texas A&M - 51
2. Middle Tennessee - 89
3. Stephen F. Austin - 101
4. Ohio State - 111
5. Texas Tech - 185
6. Incarnate Word - 225
7. TCU - 255
8. A&M Corpus Christi - 267
9. North Dakota - 327
10. Houston - 333

I think Bama is the strongest, Arkansas has some strength up top but lost some depth. I think Tennessee is weaker, Ole Miss is about the same as usual.

On the women's side, Arkansas lost a lot of depth, Florida and Alabama are very scary. But almost every team has an international runner or two.

We'll find out more with Nuttycombe and Pre-Nats going on this weekend as well

Women off to a great start, but more conservative than the men. Although it's a more competitive field, gonna be a fun team competition

Still can't get over how and why Shewaye Johnson is now running for North Dakota but she's running great early on

Hopefully one or both of Megan Roberts and Debora Cherono can crack the top ten. 2.7k in and they're in 15th and 17th

I think last meet SJL started off well and then faded. Perhaps she will finish faster this time and also crack theTop 10!

I'm closely watching her and Bendet's finish!

Sadly LSU women looking great

Sj Leal looking strong! Our 4th runner right now! Let's hope for a strong team finish!

An 18:56 is crazy for that Corpus runner

taylorswift13_ said:

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An 18:56 is crazy for that Corpus runner

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Go Islanders !!!

Cherono and Kemboi finish strong for us and move to 12th and 13th

Women 6k Results

12. Debora Cherono
13. Joyce Kemboi
24. Megan Roberts
30. Sophia Bendet
35. San Juanita Leal

44. Staucie Lees
59. Elise Smoot
73. Ava Cole

What a finish from Leal and Bendet! That's huge for us!

Both Freshmen with promise !!

Wellll, a 3rd place team finish is not 1st place but still pretty darn good with all the teams participating !!

Women will finish 3rd behind Wake Forest and LSU

frankie00 said:

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Being from Corpus I always want the Islanders to do good - and they did.

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Same. And have family that have graduated and still attending too.

Wow....I talked with him Friday night at Sam's engagement party. Told him congrats on the good race...

I had no idea it was a School Record Good Race!

Cross Country Preview - SEC Cross Country Championships

Meet: Southeastern Conference Cross Country Meet
Date: October 31st
Time: Broadcast - 9:00Men - 9:08, Women - 9:53
Location: Cherokee Farm Cross Country Course - Knoxville, Tennessee
Distance: Men 8k, Women 6k
Other Notable Schools: The rest of the SEC lol
Live Results: https://results.adkinstrak.com/meets/55919
Live Stream: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/af57cdae-9089-45ed-a9e9-92449c52fd45


Meet Preview

The post season is here!! Aggie cross country begins its post season run at the SEC Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee, The entirety of the conference will convene in Knoxville for a highly competitive race that sets the tone for the postseason as regionals is 2 weeks away as well. While you're making halloween plans or sitting at your desk in a Bluey costume, tune into the SEC Championships Friday morning and cheer on our Aggies.

We go into this meet after a strong regular season that included two successful meets at home and strong trips to Fort Worth and Pennsylvania. We saw some great things on both sides. Our teams shined with their veteran returners and promising newcomers.

Men's Regular Season Recap
On the men's side, the greatest surprise was Cooper Cawthra returning for another season. Cawthra has a magical track season beginning with his record breaking 3:54 mile time and carried over to an excellent track season outdoors as well. As we all thought his days running for the maroon and white were over, Cawthra's names surprised us all on a start sheet. His success and momentum carried over to fall where he has been dominant this cross country season winning the Texas A&M Invitational and placing top 5 at the Paul Short Run and Arturo Barrios Invitational leading the way for our men.

We also saw Aggie cross country debuts for Victor Kibiego, Youssef Asslouj, and freshman Gavin Chapa. Kibiego missed all of last cross country season, and after making the national finals in the steeplechase, he made his debut for Aggie cross country placing 38th at the Paul Short Run in his first cross country race since 2023. He then finished 15th at the latest home meet. Asslouj also made his debut in the same meet placing 39th, then improving to 8th at home. Asslouj is a transfer from Cumberlands and the Morocco native has really boosted this Aggie men's team. Freshman Gavin Chapa has shined as a freshman. In a veteran filled team, Chapa, the San Antonio native, has established himself as one of our strong runners out of the gate he placed in the top ten in back to back meets. His first ever 8k was a bit shaky, but he shaved a minute off that time to place 31st at home last time out.

Additionally, our men have also seen huge contributions from our returning juniors. Jack Johnston has picked up where he left off last season where he carried the load and was our number 1 runner. He had a great track season and has placed top ten every single meet this season including 7th at the Arturo Barrios. A great surprise has been the significant improvement from Carter Gordy. His improvement is tremendous and he has placed himself as one of our top runners. He has boosted this team and I expect him to keep rising. Luca Santorum eased his way into the season after missing the first two meets, the mid distance track star is showing his versatility after placing 30th at Arturo Barrios. Diego Heredia, of Mission, Texas has been running extremely well for us this season as well.

Women's Regular Season Recap
On the women's side it was a similar story with a nice mix of returners, but also some huge contributions from new runners. Over the offseason Texas A&M signed some incredible high school recruits in Sophia Bendet, Alexandra Fox, and Ava Cole. All have run extremely well. Bendet, from Universal City, Texas came in as one of the best prospects in the nation. She placed in the top 4 her first 2 meets, before a little slip in her first ever 6k. However she bounced back and ran exceptionally well to be our 4th runner at Arturo Barrios. Fox and Cole, both from Flower Mound have been consistently pushing to be in our top 7. Another great surprise has been the cross country debut of Debora Cherono. She enrolled in January and would go to claim multiple school records on the track before finishing 4th at the NCAA Championship meet in the steeplechase. She made her Aggie cross country debut in Pennsylvania where she would place 13th then going on to place 12th at home with a sub 20 6k performance. However, one of the brightest additions has been UTEP transfer Joyce Kemboi. While at UTEP, Kemboi didn't get to run cross country however, she has excelled here handmade her mark on this team early. She's been in our top 3 every meet and finished a second behind Cherono last time out. This team has been significantly boosted by these additions.

A&M also returned some amazing runners from the 2024 season. After a breakout performance last fall and a monster perofrmance on the track, sophomore Megan Roberts continues to impress this cross country season. She won the first meet of the season in a photo finish to Kennady Fontenot, she'd place 8th and 11th the next two meets. After a strong start to the race, she'd place 24th at the competitive Arturo Barrios. We'll definitely rely on her heavily these next two weeks. Another huge returner is senior Kennady Fontenot, who I mentioned finished right behind Roberts meet 1, however she has yet to race since. Fontenot has been a critical piece to our lineup since she was a freshman and she had an extraordinary track season. You have to hope she's healthy along with senior Emma Little who's missed time as well. Like Cawthra, Elise Smoot was able to return for another season. Smoot can be an. Important piece to our success and knows how to run in big moments. However, the most pleasant surprise has been San Juanita Leal. One of the most heralded recruits in A&M history, she was forced to cut her freshman season short due to a lower leg injury after 2 meets. She'd miss all of track season and slowly work her way back to form each meet this season. She'd run her best meet of the season at Arturo Barrios placing 35th, but it's being able to finish a race with strength after coming back from injury. Staucie Lees is also. Having a breakout season after not having the freshman season we expected. She has really come into her own as of late and is running like a star. She will definitely factor into our top 7.

Men's SEC Outlook
The SEC meet is and always will be a grind, however it's a lot more competitive on the women's side. However the men's is ultra competitive at the top. The influx of international runners is ever-present in the SEC and nearly every school has benefitted from it. Teams like Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama sold rely on international runners. Teams like Ole Miss, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia also look to factor in the mix. A big thing to keep an eye on is how we compete against texas and LSU, the only schools we'll see at this meet that are in our region.

As for us, it's an exciting time and we should be optimistic. Our depth is as strong as I've ever seen in a Aggie cross country team, but we also have firepower up top and some dawgs who aren't afraid to run at the front of the pack. This is where bringing back Cooper Cawthra and having a runner like Victor Kibiego will be huge, especially for a meet like this. Where every point matters, having high scoring individuals is of the utmost importance. We have multiple guys who can take the risk and stay up top, but the distance between 1 and 5 won't be as significant as in recent years. We'll have depth backing the top up. So while it will be important to see how many guys we can get into the top 20/25, it'll be even more important to see if we can keep all 5 in the top 35/40 and I think we could. Alabama will have a couple runners try to break the pace early and several will follow. We just can't let them get too far ahead and carry many with them.

This will be a great test for our men and I'm excited to see how we do. Can we have a top ten finisher or top 15 finisher, can we have multiple? How will our 4th and 5th runners do? How do we respond to a blistering pace? All these questions will be answered Friday and I'm excited to see how we do! I'm going for a top 4 finish in a crazily competitive conference.

Women's SEC Outlook
Just like I mentioned for the men's side, the women's side has been taken over by international runners. With some schools solely relying on such over development of high school runners. Many teams in the SEC have brought in overseas talent and this will be a highly competitive and fast race. Sadly our women will be without seniors Kennady Fontenot and Emma Little. Both were integral pieces to our team that made nationals 2 years back. Hopefully they are healthy for regionals, but their long term health is most important. Thankfully our women's team has plenty of options and has some elite strength up top. Debora Cherono, Joyce Kemboi, and. Megan Roberts provide a very very strong 1-2-3 punch. However it takes an entire team and we're only as strong as our 5th runner. At the Arturo Barrios meet, Sophia Bendet and SJ Leal were our 4th and. 5th runner. I think they will only keep improving and getting stronger, so I think we are ingot shape. Both even have the potential to run with Cherono, Roberts, and Kemboi. The women's race usually begins more collected than the men, but eventually will have some girls try to rip the pace and go for a crazy time. The favorites such as Hilda Olememoi of Florida and Paitlyn Noe of Arkansas will definitely make this a fast sub 19 race. However it's how our girls run together. This season they have tried to take it out fast and pace themselves so they should know their capabilities.

I'm excited to see how our women will do. Also important is seeing how we race against tu and lsu.This conference is very competitive up top and cracking the top 20 will be extremely hard, but I bet our girls are up to the challenge. We'll need to have some girls place high because in a 16 team conference the places can add up heavily. Let's hope we can get off to a strong start and get girls into contention. I'm excited to see if Cherono keeps improving. Roberts ran well in conference in both indoor and outdoor track. The biggest question is how will our young guns respond, but Leal, Bendet, Fox, Lees, and Cole have immense championship racing experience. The women's team race is always more competitive than the men, but I want to see us rise to the challenge.

I'll be watching along Friday and adding commentary to this board!!! Gig'em Aggies and BTHO the sec! Nothing like questioning your potential halloween candy intake after watching people run all out for 20 minutes!

If you have YouTube TV, you won't be able to watch the race this morning.

Wont affect me, but that's a real bummer

SEC RACE DAY!!!!!

LETS BTHO THE SEC

Let's see how many times the drone camera glitches today

DORIS LEMENGOLE CAN YOU GO PRO ALREADY DAMN