Preston, Driscoll lead Aggie efforts in inaugural Barrios Invitational

The inaugural Arturo Barrios Invitational held on the Dale Watts cross country course Saturday morning had team titles claimed by Guelph in the men’s 8,000m race and Florida in the women’s 6,000m race.

Texas A&M men, racing without Jon Bishop, placed sixth in team scoring while the Aggie women were 11th as one of their leading runners, Kelsie Warren, did not finish the race.

“It’s great having this kind of field on our home course,” said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “That’s what we’ve wanted to do and have aspired to bring a national-level field to see this course. We accomplished that with the field we had here today.”

Arturo Barrios, who was in attendance at the meet named after him, noted: “It’s an honor to be back at Texas A&M after competing here 33 years ago. It feels good to be back on the campus, especially at Texas A&M. It’s also an honor to have a cross country meet named after me and the place is beautiful. I’ve taken a lot of pictures and have a lot of souvenirs.”

Guelph, a Canadian school, totaled 56 points for the men’s team title among 28 teams as they finished ahead of Oklahoma State (93), Texas (98), Tennessee (113), UT Rio Grande Valley (231), Texas A&M (235), Texas Arlington (273), North Texas (283), Oklahoma (287) and Florida (305).

The Gators totaled 46 points for the women’s team title amid 24 teams to place ahead of Oklahoma State (85), Vanderbilt (138), Texas (156), Cal Baptist (186), Guelph (238), SMU (249), LSU (365), Middle Tennessee State (271), UT Rio Grande Valley (277) and Texas A&M (308).

Oklahoma State produced a 1-2 finish in the men’s race with Ashenafi Hatte winning in 23:52.7 as teammate Isai Rodriguez crossed the finish line in 23:52.8. Texas Tech’s Miguel Bautista finished third in 23:55.5.

Brandt Preston was the leading Aggie finisher as he placed 37th with a time of 25:21.8 while freshman Gavin Hoffpauir clocked 25:26.4 to finish 42nd. Jacob Perry placed 49th in 25:36.9 while another freshman, Wes McPhail, finished 52nd in 25:37.7. Zephyr Seagraves wrapped up Texas A&M’s scoring five in 55th place with a time of 25:39.6.

“Bishop got sick on Thursday, so we made the decision we weren’t going to race him,” noted McRaven. “That hurts us a lot since we don’t have the kind of depth were we can really recover from that. We probably lose between 40 to 50 points without Jon in the race, and that makes a huge difference for us as a team. But the rest of the guys stepped up and ran great. They took the ball and ran with it.

“I’m really pleased with the freshmen. We had two freshman in our top five with Gavin and Wes, who were getting some great experience out there. Brandt stepped up and rebounded his race at Loyola while Jacob did another nice job.

Oklahoma State also won the women’s race with Sinclaire Johnson posting a time of 19:58.5 ahead of Florida’s Jessica Pascoe (20:04.3) and SMU’s Hannah Miller (20:14.1).

Ashley Driscoll led the Aggie women in placing 36th with a clocking of 21:46.3 as a trio of freshmen followed her to claim the next three scoring places for A&M. Abbey Santoro came in as the second finisher, posting a time of 22:16.9 to place 66th, with Rachel Bernardo the third Aggie, finishing 68th in 22:17.9, while Carrie Fish placed 71st with a time of 22:23.5. Completing the scoring five for Texas A&M was Nikki Keys, who placed 75th in 22:29.1.

“I’m not sure what happened with Kelsie,” said McRaven. “She was running fine with less than 2k to go and then wasn’t able to finish the race. With her finishing the race we are probably sixth or seventh in team scoring. Without her, though, it’s a big hit since we easily lose 50 points.

“The freshman stepped up in the women’s race as well with three placing among our top five. They’re going to keep figuring out their identity and the sport while getting better.”

Zephyr Seagraves crossed as the sixth Aggie, placing 55th in 25:39.6. Following was Noah Jacobs (93rd, 26:09.6), Harrison Tillman (114th, 26:30.9), Taylor Clayton (119th, 26:34.9), Eli Canal (126th, 26:37.0), and Joel Potter (173rd, 27:41.0).

The next batch of Aggie finishers in the women’s race was led by Valarie Bradley (85th, 22:38.6) and included Lizette Chapa (87th, 22:40.1), Julia Black (90th, 22:42.1), Amelia McElhinney (113th, 22:59.0), Kaitlin Tanner (120th, 23:05.2), Olivia Arriaza (122nd, 23:06.6), Grace Plain (128th, 23:15.7) and Megan Hopper (137th, 23:30.3).