The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Pre-National Invitational
Cross Country heads to Pre-Nationals Invitational
10.15.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns face ranked teams for first time this year
Pre-National Invitational Information
USTFCCCA Live Blog | Live Results | Meet Info
Women: 6000m | Men: 8000m
Time: 8:30 a.m. CT
Where: E.P. Tom Sawyer Park | Louisville, Kentucky
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Cross Country will receive its first big test of the season on Saturday when the Longhorns head to the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Kentucky. The men and women both enter this weekend's action ranked, but it will be the first time this season Texas has seen other ranked teams on the trails.
The Pre-Nationals is set to run on the same course the NCAA Championships will be held on in November, giving teams an advanced look at the championship site. The women will run the championship distance of 6,000 meters while the men will run 8,000, short of the championship 10k distance.
This year's Pre-Nats will feature 11 men's teams currently ranked in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll in the seeded race, including defending NCAA champion Colorado. The women's seed race has eight ranked teams. Three of the men's teams are in the Top 10 along with five of the women's teams.
"This is go time. Early on, it's a lot of smaller meets, but for us right now this is where the season really begins," said Coach Brad Herbster. "This meet represents crossing over into the championship part of the season. For us, there's not a lot of corrections you're going to be able to make in two weeks from a fitness standpoint. We can sharpen some things up, but overall this meet represents just handling our business, meaning handling that size of field. We haven't seen 43 teams in a single race all year."
The men will kick things off in the seeded Red Race at 9:30 a.m. Eastern followed by the women's seeded race at 10:15. This year's Pre-Nats will have six races with unseeded races followed by an open race for teams wishing to run more than seven competitors. Texas will be in the seeded races.
Texas is ranked in both the men's and women's polls for the first time since midway through the 2013 season with the men just in at No. 30 and the women at No. 27. The Longhorns are ready to get on the trails and compete with other ranked teams to prove they belong.
"We do feel like we have to approach it as if we are undeserving of it because we have to come at it as the aggressors," said men's freshman Alex Rogers. "We have to prove we can hang with these guys and that we're better than the standard that they've put on us."
Fans can keep up with the action this weekend with a live blog from USTFCCCA. The blog can be found on at USTFCCCA.org and clicking on The National Results Wall. The blog provided by CoverItLive will have live video, live results with time splits along with photos and more from team Twitter and Instagram accounts. Fans can also keep up with the action by following #PreNats on both those social media platforms.
Results are available online at pttiming.com. Admission to the Pre-Nationals Invitational is $5 per person.
Following Pre-Nats, Texas will head to the Big 12 Conference Championships in two weeks to begin the championship portion of its schedule.
Texas Quotes
Coach Brad Herbster
On his thoughts heading into the weekend: We feel really good. With both races being early in the morning, it'll allow us to get out and compete against 43 of some of the best teams in the country. We're excited to toe the line and show that we belong in that field and in the national poll.
On the team's practices this week: On both the men's and women's side… the women have been phenomenal in practice. We just have to translate that over into the race. Same with the men. We've got a young group on both sides but on the men's side we've got seven or eight guys up there who can contribute and contribute at a really high level. We really just have to get out once that gun goes off and make sure we're putting ourselves in a good position because that course is so narrow and narrows so quickly. You got to make the move up front early, otherwise you're going to get the door slammed and you'll never get into the race.
On who to expect breakout performances from heading into the race: We've got some guys who are always right there. I think Nate Moore can step up and have a great race. But at this race, you just want to be consistent. You just want to have five guys, much like we did at the Texas A&M meet, where you've got five guys within a 20-25 second gap. But also just running up front. If you don't have a gap in the back, you want to have that smaller gap in the front of the race.
On the mentality or personality of a typical cross country runner: First of all, they have to be intelligent and self-disciplined. This is a sport where I can't be with them for every single mile of every single run. So if we say "Hey, let's go run 15 miles or 10 miles" or whatever the number is and they spend seven of them hiding in the bushes, that's not what we're really looking for. They have to be motivated and they have to understand that they are at Texas, and a lot of great things can happen. We've got traditions to uphold, but we also have our own season to progress through; we've got Big 12 and NCAA Regionals and NCAAs.
Freshman Alex Rogers
On his thoughts of competing against other nationally ranked teams at pre-nationals: I feel like Texas is going to do really well going against the national teams that are already ranked. We're ranked ourselves, but we're going out there to try and prove that we're better than what they've ranked us and we're going to do it as a team.
On the team's overall mood heading into pre-nationals: We are fired up and we're ready to roll. Practice has been going fantastic, and we've been having unbelievable workouts as a team. We're having eight to 10 guys finish the hard workouts all together every time. So, I mean we're looking really great right now.
On his thoughts of racing as a team: Being a freshman and having the older guys pulling myself along, it has been a really great blessing and a really great learning opportunity. Cross country is the most individualized team sport that is out there. You have to do it on your own, but you're also doing it for your team, and we're fighting for each other every single day that we're out here. When we go out to the course and we step on that line and we're wearing our Texas gear, it means something and we're doing it for each other.
Players Mentioned
