Saturday, September 6
Snyder, Texas
8 a.m.
Abilene Christian
at
West Texas College Open
Dozen newcomers to boost Cross Country teams this fall
9/3/2014 11:25:00 AM | Cross Country
ABILENE - Abilene Christian's decorated cross country program starts its 2014 campaign Saturday at the West Texas College Open and will arrive at the Snyder course with 12 newcomers (five women, seven men) determined to make an immediate impact.
New to the women's team are junior Marina Guerrero, and freshmen Bernise and Denise Altamirano, Victoria Gutierrez and Gabyrelle Thompson. The men's team added sophomore and Wiley College transfer Sterlen Paul in addition to first-year talents John Baker, Ryan Cleary, Javier Garcia, Lane Hoskinson, Joshua Mills and Ryan Woelfel.
ACU's men's team returns four starters from last year's 10th-place Southland Conference team, most notably junior Daniel Block who ran a 27:06.9 in the 8K championship race before tearing it up in the 800-meters during track and field season.
Block was the indoor 800m runner-up with a time of 1:52.71 and sixth-place finisher outdoors in 1:52.20. This summer he clocked the ninth fastest Canadian time in the 800m at the Harry Jerome Classic in British Colombia, coming across the finish line in 1:47.93.
Sophomore Jesse Coates, senior Taylor Ochs and junior Reid Rivers also return to the Wildcats.
Coates ran sparingly last season, appearing at three XC meets and three outdoor meets competing in the 1500m. Ochs averaged a fourth-place finish through five XC runs in the fall and later competed alongside Block in the indoors and outdoors 800m. Rivers placed fourth for ACU at three XC invites and was fifth two other times, including the Southland Championships. He then competed several times in the 800m, mile and 1500m during the 2014 track season.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago Paul specialized in the 400m, 800m and 1500m while at Wylie College and posted respective top times of 49.5, 1:53 and 4.01. At the Red River Conference meets, Paul finished third in the outdoor 400m and 800m and was eighth at the league's XC championship.
The remainder of the men's roster is coming up from the Texas high school ranks.
Baker, a native of Atlanta, Texas, was fifth in the district 13-3A 3200m and has personal bests of 4:58 in the 1600m and 10:50 in the 3200m.
Mills also competed at the 3A level for Sanger HS and placed 19th at the state XC meet followed by fifth and third-place showings in the Region II and State 3200m. His PRs include a 4:26 in the 1600m and 9:53 in the 3200m.
Cleary of Prosper, Texas, is the men's team's lone 4A recruit and last season he placed eighth at the district 9-4A XC meet, won the district's 800m title (1:56) and settled for fourth in the 1600m (4:23).
Garcia, Hoskinson and Woelfel all were 5A competitors for their respective high schools.
Garcia, competing for Richard King HS in Corpus Christi, was eighth in both the 1600m and 3200m last spring at the District 28-5A meet and has personal bests of 4:40 and 10:20. He also finished sixth in a competitive district XC meet.
Competing against one of the toughest 5A track districts in all of Texas, Hoskinson took 16th in the District 25-5A XC meet. The New Braunfels native and Canyon HS graduate arrives at ACU with career bests of 4:38 in the 1600m and 10:17 in the 3200m.
Round Rock and Stony Point HS product Woelfel finished eighth at the District 15-5A cross country meet in the fall of 2013 and later placed ninth in the 3200m and 11th in the 1600m at the district's track and field meet. Woelfel's personal bests include a 16:30 5K, 4:42 mile and 10:10 two-mile.
ACU's women's team returns a bulk of last year's roster that placed seventh of 14 teams at the Southland Conference XC Championship, but will be without its top runner Chloe Susset, who finished fifth overall in 21:29.4.
With Susset gone to graduation, that leaves sophomore Diana Garcia Munoz as the Wildcats' top returner. The Phoenix, Ariz., native was ACU's No. 2 runner to Susset throughout the cross country season and just missed all-conference status with a 19th place time of 22:27.2.
Indoors, Munoz missed scoring by a few places in the 3K and DMR, but outdoors she was the runner-up in the 1500m with a time of 4:31.83.
Coming back with Munoz are her sophomore classmates Landa Dowdy, Cristian Engelmann, Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, Kimberly Lamadrid, Stephanie Melo and Savanah Silva - all of whom competed at the Southland Championships. Senior Emily Hill also is back on this year's roster despite missing all of last fall; however, she frequently competed during track and field season in the 800m and on the 4x400m and 4x800m relays.
Guerrero comes to the Wildcats as a junior and her top times of 2:15 in the 800m and 4:39 in the 1500m are both good enough to get her into the Southland finals. Additionally, her lifetime best of 10:46 in the steeplechase would have placed her third at last spring's outdoor conference meet.
Gutierrez and Thompson are two 5A recruits for the Wildcats. Gutierrez ran at Abilene High School, where she was the runner-up in the district 2-5A 1600m and 3200m before placing fourth in the Region I-5A 3200m and eighth in the 1600m. In fact, her high school personal bests of 5:01 (1600m) and 11:17 (3200m) are a bit better than the HS times for Munoz.
Thompson, a graduate of New Braunfels HS, was fourth in the district 25-5A 3200m after finishing sixth at the district XC meet in the fall of 2013. Later she won the Texas Relays High School 2000-meter steeplechase (7:23) and was ranked 59th nationally in this event.
Bernise and Denise Altamirano give the Wildcats a second set of twin sisters in as many years, joining Alexandria and Michaela Hackett. Denise placed fourth in the 1600m and sixth in the 3200m at the District 3-4A meet last spring for Canyon Randall HS, while Bernise finished sixth in the district XC championships and seventh in the 1600m.
Additional information in this release provided by Don Garrett.
New to the women's team are junior Marina Guerrero, and freshmen Bernise and Denise Altamirano, Victoria Gutierrez and Gabyrelle Thompson. The men's team added sophomore and Wiley College transfer Sterlen Paul in addition to first-year talents John Baker, Ryan Cleary, Javier Garcia, Lane Hoskinson, Joshua Mills and Ryan Woelfel.
ACU's men's team returns four starters from last year's 10th-place Southland Conference team, most notably junior Daniel Block who ran a 27:06.9 in the 8K championship race before tearing it up in the 800-meters during track and field season.
Block was the indoor 800m runner-up with a time of 1:52.71 and sixth-place finisher outdoors in 1:52.20. This summer he clocked the ninth fastest Canadian time in the 800m at the Harry Jerome Classic in British Colombia, coming across the finish line in 1:47.93.
Sophomore Jesse Coates, senior Taylor Ochs and junior Reid Rivers also return to the Wildcats.
Coates ran sparingly last season, appearing at three XC meets and three outdoor meets competing in the 1500m. Ochs averaged a fourth-place finish through five XC runs in the fall and later competed alongside Block in the indoors and outdoors 800m. Rivers placed fourth for ACU at three XC invites and was fifth two other times, including the Southland Championships. He then competed several times in the 800m, mile and 1500m during the 2014 track season.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago Paul specialized in the 400m, 800m and 1500m while at Wylie College and posted respective top times of 49.5, 1:53 and 4.01. At the Red River Conference meets, Paul finished third in the outdoor 400m and 800m and was eighth at the league's XC championship.
The remainder of the men's roster is coming up from the Texas high school ranks.
Baker, a native of Atlanta, Texas, was fifth in the district 13-3A 3200m and has personal bests of 4:58 in the 1600m and 10:50 in the 3200m.
Mills also competed at the 3A level for Sanger HS and placed 19th at the state XC meet followed by fifth and third-place showings in the Region II and State 3200m. His PRs include a 4:26 in the 1600m and 9:53 in the 3200m.
Cleary of Prosper, Texas, is the men's team's lone 4A recruit and last season he placed eighth at the district 9-4A XC meet, won the district's 800m title (1:56) and settled for fourth in the 1600m (4:23).
Garcia, Hoskinson and Woelfel all were 5A competitors for their respective high schools.
Garcia, competing for Richard King HS in Corpus Christi, was eighth in both the 1600m and 3200m last spring at the District 28-5A meet and has personal bests of 4:40 and 10:20. He also finished sixth in a competitive district XC meet.
Competing against one of the toughest 5A track districts in all of Texas, Hoskinson took 16th in the District 25-5A XC meet. The New Braunfels native and Canyon HS graduate arrives at ACU with career bests of 4:38 in the 1600m and 10:17 in the 3200m.
Round Rock and Stony Point HS product Woelfel finished eighth at the District 15-5A cross country meet in the fall of 2013 and later placed ninth in the 3200m and 11th in the 1600m at the district's track and field meet. Woelfel's personal bests include a 16:30 5K, 4:42 mile and 10:10 two-mile.
ACU's women's team returns a bulk of last year's roster that placed seventh of 14 teams at the Southland Conference XC Championship, but will be without its top runner Chloe Susset, who finished fifth overall in 21:29.4.
With Susset gone to graduation, that leaves sophomore Diana Garcia Munoz as the Wildcats' top returner. The Phoenix, Ariz., native was ACU's No. 2 runner to Susset throughout the cross country season and just missed all-conference status with a 19th place time of 22:27.2.
Indoors, Munoz missed scoring by a few places in the 3K and DMR, but outdoors she was the runner-up in the 1500m with a time of 4:31.83.
Coming back with Munoz are her sophomore classmates Landa Dowdy, Cristian Engelmann, Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, Kimberly Lamadrid, Stephanie Melo and Savanah Silva - all of whom competed at the Southland Championships. Senior Emily Hill also is back on this year's roster despite missing all of last fall; however, she frequently competed during track and field season in the 800m and on the 4x400m and 4x800m relays.
Guerrero comes to the Wildcats as a junior and her top times of 2:15 in the 800m and 4:39 in the 1500m are both good enough to get her into the Southland finals. Additionally, her lifetime best of 10:46 in the steeplechase would have placed her third at last spring's outdoor conference meet.
Gutierrez and Thompson are two 5A recruits for the Wildcats. Gutierrez ran at Abilene High School, where she was the runner-up in the district 2-5A 1600m and 3200m before placing fourth in the Region I-5A 3200m and eighth in the 1600m. In fact, her high school personal bests of 5:01 (1600m) and 11:17 (3200m) are a bit better than the HS times for Munoz.
Thompson, a graduate of New Braunfels HS, was fourth in the district 25-5A 3200m after finishing sixth at the district XC meet in the fall of 2013. Later she won the Texas Relays High School 2000-meter steeplechase (7:23) and was ranked 59th nationally in this event.
Bernise and Denise Altamirano give the Wildcats a second set of twin sisters in as many years, joining Alexandria and Michaela Hackett. Denise placed fourth in the 1600m and sixth in the 3200m at the District 3-4A meet last spring for Canyon Randall HS, while Bernise finished sixth in the district XC championships and seventh in the 1600m.
Additional information in this release provided by Don Garrett.
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