BOSTON – The Texas A&M cross country teams claimed a pair of top-five finishes, with the women placing third and men fifth at the Battle in Beantown Friday at Franklin Park.
“I was really pleased with the women’s race,” distance coach Wendell McRaven said. “I thought our front four did a really great job, they ran well, especially Shewaye [Johnson] who’s doing a great job as a freshman. Our biggest thing moving forward is to close the gap between our fourth to fifth- and sixth- place finishers.”
“The men did a great job,” McRaven added. “It was great to get Eric [Casarez] out there for his season debut and finishing fifth was a great opener for him. Jonathan [Chung] continues to be consistent for us. The rest of our guys had a good showing and put out a great effort.”
The Aggies were paced by three top-15 finishers, with Maddie Livingston leading the way in 11th concluding the race with a time of 17:30.9. Madison Brown was right behind in 12th in a time of 17:31.4 and Kennady Fontenot claimed 14th in 17:32.4. Rounding out the scoring for A&M were Shewaye Johnson in 23rd (17:43.1) and Emma Little placing in 18:10.0 (49th).
“I think it was a great way to get out of our comfort zone and we ran really well together,” Livingston said. “It was a different and fun course, and I’m very encouraged and proud of this team. Another confidence booster that we can compete against some top teams.”
Eric Casarez led the race to the 5k mark, ultimately finishing in fifth with a time of 23:55.7. Following Casarez, was Jonathan Chung who secured an 11th place finish with a time of 24:20.0. Rounding out the Maroon & White’s scoring finishers were Jack Johnston in 24:47.8 (29th), Aiden Gonzalez-Rodiles in 24:56.7 (40th) and Joseph Benn in 25:08.6 (44th).
“It was a nice opener to the season,” Casarez added. “We know there is a long way to go, but at the same time it goes by quick so it’s about taking advantage of every meet. I thought the team did really well overall, but I’m liking where we’re at so far.”
Winning the women’s event was Harvard with 61 points, followed by Penn in second (103) and Texas A&M finishing third (107). Rounding out the results were Villanova (118), Connecticut (126), Princeton (136), Auburn (143), Dartmouth (169), Cornell (195), Boston College (321), Maine (345), Syracuse (347), Albany (392), St. John’s (405), SNHU…
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