Saturday, October 4
Fayetteville, Ark.
8 a.m.
Abilene Christian
at
Chile Pepper Festival
Cross country teams competing at Saturday's Chile Pepper Festival
10/3/2014 10:13:00 AM | Cross Country
Coach Graham at YouCaring.com
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's cross country teams will be in action Saturday at the 26th Annual Chile Pepper Festival, which touts itself as one of the premier running events in America.
The meet will take place at the University of Arkansas' off-road course (combination of grass, cinder and uneven terrain) in Fayetteville. Approximately 5,000 runners from more than 80 colleges and 120 high school teams are expected to compete. Additionally, 750 individuals will participate in the Open 10k and 5K Fun Run plus the Tom Lewis 1 Mile Pepper Dash Friday night.
The men's collegiate 8K starts Saturday at 9:45 a.m. followed by the women's 5K at 10:20 a.m.
Opposition for the Wildcats includes Baylor, Central Arkansas, Drake, Houston, Lamar, LSU, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP and the host Razorbacks, whose men's team ranked No. 1 this week in the USTFCCCA South Central Region poll. The Arkansas women are No. 7 nationally and tops in the region.
Last year's men's 8K was comprised of 327 runners from 14 universities and 21 colleges. Arkansas won the team title with 31 points followed by Villanova and Texas Tech.
Forty-nine women's teams (24 colleges / 15 universities) competed in last fall's 5K, which was won by Arkansas with a near-perfect score of 16 points. Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference was second, while Texas Tech and the Southland's Central Arkansas tied for third.
The Chile Pepper Festival is the Wildcats' second big meet in as many weeks as last weekend they traveled to Oklahoma State for the Cowboy Jamboree. The ACU women finished third with 79 points led by sophomore sophomore Diana Garcia-Munoz' eighth-place 5K of 18:45.62 and additional top-20 finishes by Alexandria Hackett and Victoria Gutierrez.
The men, meanwhile, placed sixth and were led to the finish line by newcomer Sterlen Paul, who came in 25th place with an 8K time of 28:14.75.
The Cowboy Jamboree was a tough race for the Wildcats both physically and emotionally with the student-athletes and coaches reflecting often on the condition of their friend and assistant coach Drew Graham. The second-year distance coach for ACU was hospitalized two weeks ago in Denver after breaking his C4 vertebrae in a diving accident.
Graham is making daily progress and is in good spirits according to the blog kept by his family and friends. Earlier this week he had the blood clot fliters removed from his legs.
Once Graham is medically stable, he will be transferred to a rehab center at Denver's Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. Staff from Craig Hospital visited Drew Wednesday to begin an assessment of his condition.
Click here to read more about Coach Graham and for updates on his recovery. This site also includes a link for donations to help Graham with his medical expenses.
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's cross country teams will be in action Saturday at the 26th Annual Chile Pepper Festival, which touts itself as one of the premier running events in America.
The meet will take place at the University of Arkansas' off-road course (combination of grass, cinder and uneven terrain) in Fayetteville. Approximately 5,000 runners from more than 80 colleges and 120 high school teams are expected to compete. Additionally, 750 individuals will participate in the Open 10k and 5K Fun Run plus the Tom Lewis 1 Mile Pepper Dash Friday night.
The men's collegiate 8K starts Saturday at 9:45 a.m. followed by the women's 5K at 10:20 a.m.
Opposition for the Wildcats includes Baylor, Central Arkansas, Drake, Houston, Lamar, LSU, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP and the host Razorbacks, whose men's team ranked No. 1 this week in the USTFCCCA South Central Region poll. The Arkansas women are No. 7 nationally and tops in the region.
Last year's men's 8K was comprised of 327 runners from 14 universities and 21 colleges. Arkansas won the team title with 31 points followed by Villanova and Texas Tech.
Forty-nine women's teams (24 colleges / 15 universities) competed in last fall's 5K, which was won by Arkansas with a near-perfect score of 16 points. Loyola Marymount of the West Coast Conference was second, while Texas Tech and the Southland's Central Arkansas tied for third.
The Chile Pepper Festival is the Wildcats' second big meet in as many weeks as last weekend they traveled to Oklahoma State for the Cowboy Jamboree. The ACU women finished third with 79 points led by sophomore sophomore Diana Garcia-Munoz' eighth-place 5K of 18:45.62 and additional top-20 finishes by Alexandria Hackett and Victoria Gutierrez.
The men, meanwhile, placed sixth and were led to the finish line by newcomer Sterlen Paul, who came in 25th place with an 8K time of 28:14.75.
The Cowboy Jamboree was a tough race for the Wildcats both physically and emotionally with the student-athletes and coaches reflecting often on the condition of their friend and assistant coach Drew Graham. The second-year distance coach for ACU was hospitalized two weeks ago in Denver after breaking his C4 vertebrae in a diving accident.
Graham is making daily progress and is in good spirits according to the blog kept by his family and friends. Earlier this week he had the blood clot fliters removed from his legs.
Once Graham is medically stable, he will be transferred to a rehab center at Denver's Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. Staff from Craig Hospital visited Drew Wednesday to begin an assessment of his condition.
Click here to read more about Coach Graham and for updates on his recovery. This site also includes a link for donations to help Graham with his medical expenses.
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