When cross country heads to North Texas this Saturday, it will be without the help of four women upperclassmen.
“On the men’s side, we have a really solid top five forming this year, Ryan Cleary, Drew Cummings, Travis Nichols, Sterlen Paul, and Lucas Bennett,” said Jarvis Jelen, assistant track coach and distance running coach. We’ve also got two more really solid guys running in Reid Rivers and John Baker, who are really rounding out this team into a top seven. Things are looking really good on the men’s side.”
On the women’s side, however, they’re still having trouble getting numbers.
“We’re still trying to get a couple of people cleared for competition. We’re going to have a really young team this year, due to the four girls redshirting.”
The four redshirts include Diana Garcia Munoz, Carnley Graham, former Southland Conference athlete of the year, Allie Hackett and her sister Michaela Hackett. Jelen said although the women aren’t running cross country this year, three of them will run track, and all are still training.
Last year, the women’s Southland Conference cross country championship was due in large part to the four women redshirting, Allie Hackett took the gold, Munoz finished fourth and Michaela Hackett posted a seventh-place finish. Allie Hackett also earned the 5K and 10K in outdoor track last spring.
“The top 4 women are in amazing shape. Their training is going well, and they all look in good shape, and they’re all healthy,” Jelen said. “They’ll all be at the same meet we are, running unattached, so we’ll be able to see where they’re at in their training. They’ll also be able to get a race in, so that will be good for them.”
Lance Bingham, head track and field coach, said he’s excited for the opportunity to advance to postseason play next year.
“ACU cannot make it into the postseason next year. With them redshirting this year, it gives them the opportunity to compete next year,” Bingham said. “There’s nothing crazy going on, we’re just trying to get the best team possible for our first year of eligibility.”
Bingham also said that he expects the men’s team to do very well this season.
“I predict a top 5 finish for the men this year,” Bingham said. “We have a strong group of about seven guys, and I can’t wait for them to show their stuff.”
The teams will compete this weekend against Big 12 opponents TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma as well as the Conference USA host North Texas.
