The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M Invitational
Cross Country to compete at Arturo Barrios Invitational
10.11.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The Longhorns will travel to College Station for their final regular season meet.
Course Maps: Men | Women
Meet Information
AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas will continue its season on Saturday morning, as the men's and women's cross country programs visit College Station for the Texas A&M Arturo Barrios Invitational. The meet will be held on the Watts Cross Country Course, starting with the men's 8k at 9:00 a.m. CT and the women's 6k at 9:45 a.m. CT. Saturday's meet will be a good gauge for the Horns, who will compete alongside Big 12 programs Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech with Big 12 Championships two weeks away (Oct. 26 in Ames). The course will also host the NCAA South Central Regional on Nov. 9.
The Arturo Barrios Invitational will be another good test against strong competition for the men, as six runners debuted at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational two weeks ago. Despite a 22nd-place finish, it gave the Horns a chance to run on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, site of the 2018 NCAA Championships on Nov. 17. The Longhorn men rank second in the South Central Region and are receiving votes in the national polls.
"Saturday gives us another chance to move our season forward and put our training to the test," men's coach Pete Watson said. "The boys learned a lot of valuable lessons in Wisconsin about how they need to run a race, and they'll be able to utilize those on Saturday. It also gives us a chance to see where we stack up against a lot of schools from the conference and the region, which will be valuable as we prepare for the postseason in a few weeks."
Sophomore Sam Worley led the Longhorns in his debut, finishing 70th with a time of 24:16.1. Following right behind Worley was senior Alex Rogers who crossed the finish line with a time of 24:21.9. The men ended up with two runners in the top 100 and four in the top 115.
The women enter Saturday's meet ranked No. 3 by the USTFCCCA in the South Central Region. They are also receiving votes in the national polls. They are coming off a 23rd-place finish in Wisconsin, but have won three meets (Texas invitational, Rice Invitational and Concordia Invitational) this fall.
"Our women are excited to have the opportunity to race again on Saturday morning," women's coach PattiSue Plumer said. "This is our last meet before Big 12s and the postseason, so I look forward to seeing which of the girls steps up their performance. Plus it provides us a great chance to familiarize ourselves with the Regional Course that we will be racing on again in just a few weeks."
For the third time in three meets this season, junior Destiny Collins led the Longhorn women at the Nuttycombe Invitational. She finished 39th overall with a time of 20:34.90. Senior Alex Cruz followed Collins, and the Longhorns' top five was rounded out by Abby Guidry, Meghan Lloyd and Madeline Vondra.
Players Mentioned
