Cross Country | 10/30/2014 12:08:00 PM
Live Results
Coach Graham at YouCaring.com
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's cross country program will be in action for the final time Monday when Northwestern State plays host to the Southland Conference Championships at its Walter P. Ledet Track Complex in Natchitoches, La.
Races begin at 8:30 a.m. with the men's 8K followed by the women's 6K and awards' ceremony.
The men's championship has been held each year since 1964 and its been owned for the better part of the previous decade by the Lamar Cardinals, winners of seven of the last eight team titles. Lamar's most recent consecutive title streak lasted from 2006 to 2012, when it was upset by a McNeese team that posted 25 points. The Cardinals, however, regained their crown last fall, totaling 26 points against a 14-team field that included first-time competitors from ACU and Incarnate Word.
Lamar has continued to excel this fall and enters the championship ranked third in the South Central region behind Arkansas and Baylor. The Cardinals are joined in the regional rankings by five additional Southland Schools, including top-10 teams from Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and McNeese.
The Wildcats placed 10th in their Southland debut with 297 points, finishing ahead of Southeastern Louisiana, Northwestern State, New Orleans and Nicholls. ACU was led that morning to the finish line for the first time by transfer Daniel Block, who conquered the Lake Charles, La., course in in 27:06.9.
Now a senior, Block has since become the Wildcats' most consistent cross country performer, placing first for the Wildcats at meets hosted this fall by West Texas (28:47), Texas Tech (25:29), Arkansas (26:24) and Incarnate Word (25:27).
Block's top competition Monday will come from Lamar's Sam Stabler, who placed first outdoors last spring in the 1500m and 5K, and three-time SLC runner of the week Philipp Barr of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Backing up Block on the Wildcats are a host of newcomers including Ryan Cleary and Sterlen Paul plus veterans Taylor Ochs and Reid Rivers.
Ochs and Rivers were the Wildcats' seventh and fifth-place runners at last year's championships with respective times of 29:46.6 and 29:19.4.
Cleary has been ACU's No. 2 runner at four of the five regular-season meets, while Paul was third on three occasions and second to Block at Incarnate Word with a season best of 26:02.7. Paul also was the Wildcats' No. 1 runner at Oklahoma State, placing 33rd overal in 28:14.75.
The women's championship race has been in place since 1985 with the team title passed around by three schools since 2002: Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and last year's champion Lamar, which scored 36 points led by Newcomer of the Year Leigh Lattimore.
Lattimore has been named Southland Conference Runner of the Week twice this season and has her Cardinals ranked third in the region along with No. 12 SFA and No. 13 Central Arkansas.
The Wildcats' women's team finished right in the middle of last year's standings with a seventh-place score of 192 points and returns a great deal of championship expertise, beginning with sophomore Diana Garcia-Munoz.
The Phoenix native and two-time SLC Runner of the Week placed 19th at this race a year ago with a time of 22:27.2. Finishing behind her to round out ACU's top five were current teammates and sophomores Landa Dowdy (23:38.4), Michaela Hackett (24:25.0) and Kim Lamadrid (25:18.5).
Alexandria Hackett placed seventh for the Wildcats at conference in 25:43.7, but has been ACU's No. 2 runner behind Garcia-Munoz for much of this season. She posted back-to-back top-15 showings at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State at the start of the fall, and later was the overall runner-up behind Garcia-Munoz at Incarnate Word with a 6K time of 23:04.9.
A week earlier at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival, Alexandria posted a season-best 5K of 17:52.9.
Two additional Wildcats to watch Monday are newcomers Victoria Gutierrez and Mariana Guerrero. An Abilene native, Gutierrez placed 10th at Texas Tech and was 15th at the Cowboy Jamboree, while Guerrero of Spain, took third at West Texas followed by consecutive top-25 showings in Lubbock and Stillwater.
The Natchitoches Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission and the City of Natchitoches are presenting sponsors of the 2015 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships.
Lodging and tourism information about historic Natchitoches is at
Natchitoches.com online.
Coach Graham UpdateACU distance coach
Drew Graham has been at Craig Hospital since Oct. 7 and has been making considerable progress. Earlier this month he went outside in his wheelchair, breathed the air off the ventilator and saw the sunshine. He's also received a steady stream of visitors (family and friends) from all across the world.
This past Sunday, Drew's family and friends celebrated his life and the amazing progress he has made at Craig Hospital.
Click
here to read more about Coach Graham's recovery. This site also includes a link for donations to help Graham with medical expenses.
