Abilene Christian
Naimadu Classic
Cross Country Opens 2025 Season at Home Friday
8/28/2025 11:00:00 AM | Cross Country
ABILENE – The 2024 XC season saw a young men's team make a substantial gain in the WAC standings – from 8th in 2023 to 5th in 2024 at the WAC XC Championship. The young Wildcat women's team moved from 9th place in 2023 to a 7th-place finish in 2024. Both squads appear poised to make further gains in the standings in 2025.
The men's team will again be led by Andruw Villa, who was ACU's only All-Conference XC runner in 2024. He was also All-Conference in both indoor and outdoor track in a spectacular freshman debut season. ACU has six runners returning who competed in the 2024 WAC championship. Rising sophomore Mark Barajas was the #2 ACU finisher at both the WAC championship and the South Central Regional meet and would then attain All-Conference status in the steeplechase on the track. Mikhail Fortner was the #3 finisher in his 2 nd season running for the 'Cats. Rising sophomore Carlos Cortez ran #4 for ACU at both the WAC and South Central Regional meets.
ACU's 7th finisher at the WAC XC championship, Benji Castro, late grabbed an All-Conference accolade on the track in the 800. Vincent Luffey, who finished as ACU's #8 finisher at the WAC Championship, would come back with a #3 finish for ACU at the South Central Regional meet and would make the finals in the mile at the WAC Indoor Championship. JP Trook, who ran three cross country meets in 2024 and then performed well in both indoor and outdoor track, will also return.
In 2025, two runners who redshirted in 2024 will play a significant role for the men.
Kevin Castruita was ACU's top XC finisher at every race in 2023, including an 18th-place finish. (All-Conference) finish at the WAC Championship meet. Kevin will run in the top-3 for the 'Cats all this season. Redshirt freshman Matthew Engle was a key recruit for the Wildcats after an 18th-place finish in the UIL 6A XC meet in 2023this season, running for El Paso Franklin also has a great chance to run in the top-5 for ACU all season.
The other addition to the team this year is Evan Martin, from Rockwall-Heath HS, who made his biggest mark in HS as the 4th place finisher in the UIL 6A 800 last year, when he was the #6 fastest half-miler in Texas for high schoolers. He also qualified for the UIL 6A Cross Country state meet and competed at the UIL 6A Golf tournament.
The ACU women are young as well, but will be returning virtually their entire team, plus some additional reinforcements from both the HS and college ranks. Using the WAC Championship meet as the measure, ACU returns rising sophomore Audrey Chitwood - #1 ACU finisher, Peyton Bornstein – the #3 finisher (All-Conference on the track in the steeplechase), rising sophomore Charley Hamilton - #4 at the WAC meet; Kate Williams - #5 for ACU; Hadley Phillips - #6 for the Wildcats; and Hannah Kasper - #7 for ACU at the WAC meet. It is significant to note that after struggling with an illness during the WAC meet, Hannah would come back last fall to be ACU's 2 nd finisher at the South Central Regional meet, and last spring would gain All-Conference standing at the WAC outdoor 10k.
This season will have a significant hurdle to overcome, as returnees Peyton Bornstein and Charley Hamilton sustained season-ending injuries over the summer. The ACU women also have four returnees who ran in ACU's top 9 last season – Madison Anderson, Lola Buentello, Kyla Fuller, and Alyssa Quinones – and any of them has a chance to break into the top 9 again this year.
The ACU women will have three newcomers who could impact this season. Sidney Windham is a freshman from Brownwood who placed 15th at the 2022 UIL 4A XC meet in Round Rock and has been very impressive in early-season practices. Saylor Stevenson is a freshman from Rockwall HS who qualified for the Reg II-6A XC meet in 3 of her 4 years of high school. Chloe McLellan is a grad transfer from McMurry, who ran #1 for the War Hawks throughout the 2024 season.
The ingredients are in place for the ACU women to see significant progress in the WAC standings and South Central Region rankings in 2025.
Coach Nathan Meeuwenberg on the ACU men's team: "The men all had great summers, and we are in a good spot for this time of year. Looking to stay healthy and have a good outing on Friday. Pack running will be the goal with our eye on the spread between #1 and #5."
Coach Nathan on the women's team: "The women had some bad luck this summer with Peyton Bornstein and Charley Hamilton having season-ending injuries. However, the rest of the group returned to a perfect place. Hannah Kasper, Alyssa Quinones, Kyla Fuller, Hadley Phillips, and Audrey Chitwood all have looked good during the early part of the season. Our newcomers have added depth and value to the returnees. I am really looking forward to seeing this women's team progress throughout the season."
ACU Naimadu Classic
The Wildcats will open the season with a low-key kickoff meet at home, the Naimadu Classic. The Classic is named for Wildcat great Nicodemus Naimadu, one of only two men to win four consecutive NCAA XC national championships in history. In 2024, Andruw Villa broke Naimadu's 8K best in running a 23:11 at the Arturo Barrios Classic in College Station.
This meet will feature a small field, comprising NCAA Division 3 schools McMurry and Hardin-Simmons, as well as NJCAA teams from Odessa College, Western Texas College, Ranger College, and Cisco College. McMurry finished 3rd in the women's race and 5th in the men's race at the SCAC championship in 2024, and McMurry's top finisher in that race, Chloe McLellan, is now competing for ACU. At the NJCAA National Meet, Odessa College finished 8th in both the men's and women's races last year, as TF/XC returned to their campus after a 25-year hiatus.
The ACU Naimadu Classic will be run on the ACU XC course, located on EN 10th Street, east of Taylor Elementary School, northwest of the EN 10th and Loop 322 merger. The races will be held this Friday, August 29th, with a 6:45 start for the women's 4K race and a 7:30 start for the men's 6K race.
Players Mentioned
