Texas A&M women’s cross country finished 31st while individual men’s qualifier junior Jack Johnston placed 136th at the NCAA D1 Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday, Nov. 22. The Gans Creek Cross Country Course is home to the Missouri Tigers and hosted 32 different programs.
For the women’s team, sophomore Joyce Kemboi continued to lead the Maroon and White in the 6K, finishing 77th with a time of 19:44.9. Meanwhile, freshman Debora Cherono placed 83rd at 19:50.4, sophomore Megan Roberts placed 170th at 20:23.5, freshmen Sophia Bendet and Ava Cole finished 215th at 20:46.9 and 242nd at 21:12.5d, respectively. Senior Elise Smoot rounded out the group in 254th at 21:33.3.
The Aggie women placed 31st out of the 32 teams competing with 654 points, right behind Tennessee, which had 650 points. NC State won with 114 points, while BYU came in second with 130 points, followed by Oregon in third with 153 points. After the top three, there was a significant gap as New Mexico finished fourth with 216 points, and Florida finished fifth with 225 points.
“Six weeks ago, it looked like a long shot to get this women’s team to the national meet,” coach Wendel McRaven said in a press release. “They just kept getting better and better each week. They got better physically, but they also grew into a real team. It has been fun to watch that growth.”
For the men, junior Jack Johnston was the only Aggie competing in the 10K, finishing 136th with a time of 29:51.2. The run was incredibly competitive with only 10 seconds separating Johnston from runners who finished 30 spots ahead of him.
A&M did not have a men’s team score, as Johnston competed solely as an individual. Oklahoma State won the event with 57 points, comfortably in front of second-place New Mexico with 82 points. Iowa State placed third, with Syracuse and Oregon rounding out the top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
“We had a lot of national meet rookies out there who got a taste of competing at the national championships,” McRaven said in a press release. “Hopefully, this is experience that will pay off both next year and this coming track season. Both the men and women have made a lot of progress over the last 12 months.”
The Aggies came into the National Championships after women’s cross country took first place and the men finished third at the NCAA South Central Regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Nov. 14. The Aggies recorded six first-place finishes between the teams in a season that included new personal and program records.
A&M will move on to the indoor track season and host the McFerrin-12 Degree Invitational on Dec. 6 at the Fasken Indoor Track & Field facility.
