Cross Country | 9/6/2016 3:21:00 PM
Interview with Coach J. Jelen and junior G. ThompsonÂ
Interview with A. Hackett, M. Hackett and D. García Muñoz
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ABILENE - The 2016 season marks a major turning point for the men's and women's teams that compose the Abilene Christian cross country program.
The women's team enters this fall as the defending Southland Conference champions, however, its top-four returning scorers from last year's championship meet all have opted to redshirt this season with hopes of leading the team deep into the 2017 NCAA postseason. The men's team, meanwhile, has boosted its roster from eight to 12 runners and looks to begin its own climb up the conference ladder.Â
Gone from this year's women's cross country roster are twin sisters Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, their classmate Diana García Muñoz and sophomore Carnley Graham. The seniors decided to make 2016 their redshirt season earlier this year, while Graham and the new coaching staff - led by head coach
Lance Bingham and distance coach
Jarvis Jelen - made her choice earlier this week.
Alexandria Hackett put together one of the best all-around seasons in the history of the cross country and track and field program, which culminated in her receiving ACU's prestigious Paul Goad Award (Female MVP). The Cranston, R.I., native won 13 races between her cross country and indoor and outdoor track seasons, including four individual Southland Conference titles. She claimed the cross country championship with a 6K time of 20:26.5, took first in the indoor 5K (16:39.24) and won the 2016 outdoor 5K and 10K with meet-record times of 16:47.89 and 34:47.79. She also was voted Southland Conference Athlete of the Week an astounding eight times.
Michaela Hackett missed indoor season due to injury, but was a second-team all-conference honoree at the XC Championships (7th - 21:22.5), and outdoors she won bronze in the Southland 5K (17:19.75). García Muñoz made the all-conference first team with a fourth-place XC time of 21:14.0 and went on to score in five events between indoor and outdoor seasons with three trips to the medal stand in the distance medley relay, indoor mile and outdoor 1500m.
Graham's freshman résumé included a 21st-place showing at the XC championships, consecutive fifth-place finishes in the indoor 3K and 5K, and 12th-place finish in the outdoor 5K.
So with a large chunk of ACU's conference points competing unattached for a majority of 2016-17 (Michaela Hackett will compete indoors next winter) junior Gabby Thompson is the Wildcats' lone returning Southland cross country competitor. And she will be tasked with leading a team largely made of first-time collegiate runners.
ACU's true freshmen on the women's side are Natalie Jackson, Kayla Lane, Gema Sanchez, and Aubrie Terry, while those further along in their academic pursuits at ACU are junior Sierra Bennett and senior Nicole Kass. The team also will receive assistance from redshirt freshman Brielle Collette and decorated multi-athlete Taylor Yantis.
Sierra Bennett is the older sister of ACU freshman Lucas Bennett, who is one of six first-year competitors listed on the men's roster along with Drew Cummings, Justin Dees, Alex Faure, Alex Jennings and Adam Plunk. Sophomore Travis Nichols is another newcomer who comes to ACU by way of North Florida.
Returning to the men's team are seniors Sterlen Paul and Reid Rivers, sophomore Lincoln Jones and juniors John Baker and Ryan Cleary.
Cleary was ACU's no. 2 runner at all six of its 2015 cross country meets, including the 8K Southland Conference Championships where he placed 40th overall in 26:27.6. He then competed at four indoor events but missed outdoors due to injury. Baker also was unavailable during the track and field season.
After XC season, Paul scored with ACU's 4x400-meter relays indoors and was the sixth-place finisher in the Southland outdoor 800m. Rivers also did well at the conference level with top-15 showings indoors in the mile and outdoors in the 1500m.
Cross country starts its season Thursday at 8 a.m. with a meet at Texas Tech's
Rawls Golf Course, the home of this fall's Big 12 Championships. The men will first run an 8K followed by the women's 6K.
Other teams making the trip to the Texas panhandle are West Virginia (women), New Mexico Military Institute, Navajo Technical University, Odessa College, Eastern New Mexico, Panhandle State, Angelo State, South Plains, Lubbock Christian and UT-Permian Basin.
