ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's and women's cross country teams start off the 2017 season Friday at the Bear Twilight Invitational at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex hosted by Baylor University. This is the first time since 2011 that the Wildcats have competed at this race.
The women's race will toe off at 7 p.m. on the 4K course that circles around a wooded perimeter and finishes with an additional lap that encompasses the entire perimeter of the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex.
"We're all really excited to kick the season off at Baylor this Friday," distance coach
Jarvis Jelen said. "Both the men's and women's teams are looking really strong and training is going well."
Returning redshirts Alexandria and
Michaela Hackett and
Carnley Graham are expected to lead the Wildcats' 14-woman roster, which will be without notable veterans Diana García Muñoz and
Gabryelle Thompson.
Allie Hackett redshirted throughout the 2016-17 season, during which she finished first as an unattached competitor at the North Texas 5K (17:08.9), in addition to an indoor 3K at Dartmouth (9:36.80) and an outdoor 10K at UCLA (33:43.02). And during her most recent cross season for the Wildcats, she finished among the top four at all six races with first place finishes at ACU Wildcats Invitational (17:27.4), Little Rock Invitational (16:22.6) and Southland Conference Championships (20:26.6).
Michaela Hackett utilized her redshirt cross country season in 2016, and competed unattached just like her sister, finishing as the runner-up at the North Texas 5K (17:24.5). In 2015 for the Wildcats, she finished fourth at Bill Libby (18:54.5) and Little Rock invitationals (17:04.8), and placed seventh at the Southland Conference Championships (21:22.6).
Graham was tremendous for the Wildcats during the 2017 track and field season. Indoors, she was the fourth-place finisher in the 3K and 5K at the Southland Conference Championships with times of 10:00.71 and 17:14.72 (PR), and outdoors she placed fourth in her first collegiate 10K at Southlands (37:19.80) and finished sixth in the 5K (17:55.01).
The only other Wildcat running Friday with any collegiate experience is senior
Sierra Bennett, who joined the team at the start of last season and served as the Wildcats' No. 2 runner at all five events.
The rest of the roster is composed of first-time cross country runners, including sophomore
Lindsey White who competed at six outdoor meets this past spring. ACU's eight-woman freshman class includes a number of talented harriers who may be ready to surprise the competition, which includes teams from Baylor, North Texas, SMU, TCU and Texas State.
Making their collegiate debuts will be
Briahna Gerlach,
Hannah Marut,
Sophie McCannon,
Taylor Reinhold,
Alyssa Schroeder,
Allison Taylor,
Soren Underwood,
Chanda Westbrook and
Aubrey Young.
The men's race will start after the conclusion of the women's race. ACU seniors
John Baker and
Ryan Cleary, junior
Travis Nichols, and sophomore
Drew Cummings look to lead a pack of nine Wildcats around the 6K course.
Nichols led ACU at the 2016 Southland Conference Championships crossing the line in 25:36.3, and following right behind was Cummings who finished in 25:37.0.
Cleary placed 62nd at the conference XC championships but came back strong during track and field season. He scored fourth-place points indoors as part of the distance medley relay that posted a time of 10:04.70 at the Southland Conference Championships and finished sixth in the 3K with PR of 8:29.32. During the outdoor championships he placed fifth in the Southland 3K steeplechase with a PR of 9:21.49 and was sixth in the 1500m with a PR of 3:50.78.
Sophomore
Alex Jennings also will be making the trip to Waco along with freshmen
Seth Crockett,
John Gomez,
Conner Miller and
Jordan Mossinger.
