Track and field/cross country 2022-2023

Thanks, Stickman. I love going it.

The other thing that makes this a great sports weekend for me is that the only home XC meet occurs this Friday evening and I am staying over after the football game and festivities of the Moody re-opening to attend the meet on Friday evening. This will be the best XC meet in several years on the ACU course. Last year, the only D-1 school that attended was a mediocre Baylor team that ACU easily crushed. The rest of the field were the lower-level D2 and D3 schools. This year, however, ACU will welcome a vastly improved TCU team, Tarleton and Texas Tech from the D-1 ranks. And, WTAM brings in a very good D2 squad. Last year ACU easily won the men's and women's title at the Naimadu, but it won't be nearly as easy this year.

WOMEN -- on paper, this Wildcat team is very good - good enough to be ranked #9 in the South Central regional rankings. None of the other D-1 schools are ranked in their respective regional rankings, but particularly TCU is much improved. WTAM is ranked #29 in the D2 preseason rankings. ACU returns a lot of firepower: Irene Rono (who won the WAC XC championships last year); Prudence Kiyeng (8th at the WAC and a national qualifier); Tessa Holderman (21st in the WAC); Grace White (26th in the WAC); Katelyn Coldicott (80th in the WAC). But, it can't be understated how much ACU will miss Briahna Gerlach, who finished 9th in the WAC last year, but she was a runner you could ALWAYS expect to bring her "A" game. ACU also graduated the always reliable Sarah Wagler (61st in the WAC) and Ari Trevino, who improved drastically in her final season at ACU. I have heard that ACU might be fighting some injury challenges to some of the top runners -- I will look to see if that is true today.

ACU has picked up some freshmen who show great promise: Peyton Bornstein, from Tolland, CT; Isabella Evans, from McKinney Boyd; Jenna Keeley, from Manhattan, KS; and Kate Williams, from Boerne Champion. They all have potential to help a lot. My sense is that Peyton and Kate would make the most waves early, but Coach Jelen mentioned Bella by name as well.

TCU is dramatically better because of 2 runners who should challenge Irene for the Naimadu title. Gracie Morris, the former state champ for Aledo, transferred to TCU from UT at midterm last year and had an immediate impact -- getting 4th in the Big 12 in the 1500 and qualifying for nationals in the 1500 and getting 3rd team All-America there. London Culbreath is a huge add for the Frogs -- she was a 3-time Texas Gatorade XC Athlete of the Year. She went to Arkansas and disappeared. She has transferred to TCU to be closer to home and both Gracie and London can give Irene a race. WTAM brings in 2 strong XC runners -- Florance Ewajeneza got 9th at the D2 XC meet last fall and Eleanora Curtabbi won the D2 national title in the steeple on the track. Last year, Irene won the race by 40 seconds over 2nd place and was 1:30 ahead of the closest non-Wildcat runner. That will NOT be the case this year and that should be great for Irene's development.

MEN - on paper, this ACU team does not appear to be any better than in 2021 and that led to them being left off the preseason regional rankings top-15. BUT, if you actually watched the team compete compete last spring, you saw dramatic improvement from the ACU male distance runners on the track - Levi Chambers, Gabe Embree, Cooper Goggans, Garrison Shindler, Neal Helgerson, O'Brien Verdin -- all were much, much better than they were in XC. If the international contingent - Kevin Kipkosgei, Maxwell Kiplagat, Denis Lagat - can make similar improvement, this team could be very good and there is no way they are a 7th-place team in the WAC again this year. Making the top-9 who will run at the conference meet will be highly competitive. The daily training should be fierce. I think this team could be a major surprise in the South Central meet this year.

The competition this weekend will be solid. WTAM is ranked #23 in D2 and led by Butare Rugenerwa (his name sounds international, but he is actually from that far-off land of Amarillo). TCU got much better this year with the transfer from UT of Gracie Morris' twin brother, Graydon. TCU has spent much of the past decade as one of the 10 worst XC teams in the U.S. and they won't fall into that category this year. Tech is solid and Tarleton appears to be much improved over last year. I think that WT will be the team that will give ACU the battle for the team title. This race should be very competitive.

I hope that some of the casual ACU fans may make it out to the ACU XC course tomorrow evening. The races will be very competitive. The addition of food trucks should bring a festive tailgating vibe. The first race goes off at 6:30.

Thanks to you guys -- I love posting about the ACU T&F/XC team.

I got to attend the Naimadu Classic yesterday and it was a blast. The field was much more competitive than in year's past. There was an excellent crowd there -- kudos to ACU softball and soccer for having large and vocal contingents at the meet. I also saw Cam Steele in the crowd, but he is rather easy to spot in any crowd. ACU did not win in the women's or the men's, but the field was MUCH stronger than in the past and overall, the performances were strong for an opener.

WOMEN -- Irene Rono won her race in grand style -- powering away from the field in the final 1K of the 4K race - she looks even better than last year. And, this was a strong field. The WTAM runner in 2nd was a multiple time D2 All-America and the TCU runner in 3rd was an All-America on the track last spring. In fact, TCU won the women's team race and they are light-years better than they were 2 years ago. They finished with 41 points, with WTAm just behind them with 44 and ACU in 3rd with 67 and Tech in 4th with 85 points. TCU did not bring their other top recruit -- the transfer from Arkansas -- she will apparently need more time to get into shape. Tech did not bring their top woman runner, but they got good production from their freshman.

And, speaking of production from their women freshman, ACU had a strong debut from their 4 primary freshmen. Peyton Bornstain, from Connecticut, looked really good, finishing 12th and running a just over 1 minute behind Irene. Kate Williams, from Boerne Champion, finished in 17th about 20 seconds behind Peyton. Jenna Keeley, from Manhattan, KS, finished 4 seconds back of Kate and Isabella Evans, from McKinney Boyd, was 17 seconds behind Jenna in 18th place. Two freshmen walkons ran pretty well -- Kate Hansen (from Austin HS) in 35th and Anastacia Copland (from Mansfield Legacy) in 42nd. Katelyn Coldicott, who ran at the WAC XC meet for ACU last year was the 8th finisher for ACU.

The freshmen will have a lot expected of them because of circumstances. I did not see Prudence Kiyeng there at all -- I have heard that she might have sustained a summer training injury, but I could not confirm that. I did get to speak to Grace White and the news was not good -- she will miss this XC season and possibly have to retire from competitive running due to her COVID-related heart problems. (I have talked with several T&F coaches around the country who have now lost runners for the very same reason). I spoke the always-energetic Tessa Holderman and SHE may have to have surgery as well. She is determined to get back from T&F in January, but she may well have to take a redshirt year in XC. So, with Grace, Tessa and possibly Prudence out of commission for this season, a lot may fall on a bunch of freshmen that at least passed their first test with flying colors.

MEN - WTAM was 1st in 47, Tech getting 2nd with 51 points, ACU in 3rd with 76 points, Tarleton in 4th with 84 points and 5th place TCU with 104 points. The WT team is legit -- ranked in top-30 in D2 and this is the best Tech men's team I have seen in years. They actually left their top XC runner at home. Tech, which is coached by former ACU HC Jon Murray, brought an unattached kid with them -- someone who they were planning to redshirt - and he ran a brilliant race and got 2nd. Jon may have to burn that redshirt on the kid -- if he had run the black and scarlet in the race yesterday, they would have won the team title! Another kid I have followed for years, Kevin Baez from Tarleton, won the race and looks amazingly fit and he suffered a terrible family tragedy this past summer. Really good to see him running at such a high level this year.

For ACU, Levi Chambers led the team with a 6th place finish and a big PR time of 18:44 on the 6k race. (All future races this season will be 8K races until the regional meet at 8k). Levi is the leader of this group -- working on his MDiv at ACU and getting better every season. Neal Helgerson (12th) and Gabe Embree (13th) finish within 5 seconds of each other. Neal and Gabe are a contrast in running strategy -- Neal runs until he drops and then tries to hang on and Gabe usually drops back early in the race and then picks off runners ahead of him. Then, then end up about 5 seconds apart. Gabriel Trevino ran great and got 23rd in the race and his time was a PR by 1.5 minutes. Gabriel is a kid who has been around a few years, but it looks like this could be his breakthrough year. O'Brien Verdin looked solid in 31st, finishing less than 1 second ahead of his new teammate, Chicago State transfer Kevin Castruita in 32nd place. Cooper Goggans (47th), freshman Keaton Raney (55th) and Aidan Carter (63rd) complete the top-9 for the 'Cats. I saw Garrison Shindler there and he is nursing a slight training injury. The three internationals did not run. If you look at the results on TFRRS.com, you will both Maxwel Kiplagat and Kevin Kipkosgei lasted as DNF (did not finish), but in reality the did not start at all. If those 2 are in good shape this year, ACU should be competitive at the conference level from #1 to #10 or #11.

The next race for the 'Cats will be at SFA in 2 weeks. SFA hosts the WAC meet later in the fall. On an interview a few days back, Coach Jarvis Jelen mentioned that ACU was at a big disadvantage last year at the WAC conference meet because XC courses are SO different and running on a brand-new course in California last year for the 1st time put the 'Cats at a big disadvantage. He hopes that this meet in 2 weeks will get them used to racing on the conference course.

All in all, a good debut to the season.

Levi is a great kid. He had a great freshman XC season when he first got to Abilene and then, when he returned to ACU after Christmas break he developed a terrible pain in his abdomen and ended up have emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. He had to medically redshirt for indoor and outdoor track and field AND the following XC season as he tried to build back strength. So, he had 1 RS for XC/Ind/Out. Then, COVID came along and he ended up with another XC/Ind/Out redshirt -- outdoors in spring 2020 and XC and Indoors for fall/winter 2021. He finished his degree last May in Bible and Ministry in 4 years (magna cum laude) and still have 2 full years of eligibility left and what i mean by full is that he has XC/ind/out for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. He always planned on going for his MDiv -- he Father got his MDiv at ACU before him. So, now he might be the only MDiv student in ACU's history to be actively competing at the D1 level in any sport. 

Loved the post, Preach!

Yesterday was a really solid day for ACU at the SFA XC meet in Nac -- the same course that will host the WAC meet this year. Last year, ACU had a big disadvantage at XC conference as the meet was held at CBU's home course and the first time ACU ever saw the course was the day before the meet. The course advantage is huge in XC (probably behind only golf) because it varies so much from course to course. This year, ACU will have a much better advantage over CBU and UVU, the western U.S. powerhouses in the WAC (hoping for a dreadfully hot November day as well - HA!)

The SFA meet had both ACU and UTA in the field -- the Mavericks also trying to take advantage of getting to run on the conference course. On the women's side, ACU pulled out the upset led by Irene Rono (of course). What I love is that we won with 25 points, just ahead of SFA with 36 points and UTA much further back at 78 points AND 3 freshmen got 3th (Kate Williams), 4th (Isabella Evans), and 7th (Peyton Bornstein). These freshmen was getting used to the longer college races rather quickly. Prudence Kiyeng (coming off a summer time training injury) got 10th and she was followed by 4 more freshmen - Jenna Keely (15th), Kate Hansen (24th), Renee Elliott (30th), and Anastacia Copland (33rd). Sophomore Katelyn Coldicott finished at ACU's 10th runner in 36th in a field of 60 runners. I love seeing these freshman making incredible progress with one Wildcat having to take medical retirement and another (Tessa Holderman) headed for surgery on her ankle in the next week or two and now trying to get ready for outdoor track at the earliest. I like that these freshmen have come into the season with a big chip on their shoulders and don't appear to be afraid of more experienced competition.

The men finished a very competitive 3rd place -- UTA winning with 32 points, SFA with 56 and ACU with 62 pts. Levi Chambers (the running theologian) ran a big PR in getting 2nd place. Neal Helgerson looks 100% better than last fall, as he gets 8th place and beats his previous PR in the 8K by almost 2 minutes. Chicago State transfer Kevin Castruita gets 17th with a PR of 1.5 minutes. And, O'Brien Verdin gets 20th with another PR as well. ACU's international contingent is still struggling -- Maxwel Kiplagat got 23rd and Denis Lagat finished in 36th (out of a field of 70) and once again Kevin Kipkosgei did not run. For some reason, ACU did not have some key runners -- Gabe Embree (ran #2 for ACU 2 weeks ago) did not run, along with Cooper Goggans, Garrison Shindler, and Gabe Trevino. I hope that there is not a virus running through the team.

An interesting note on the race this week. ACU took the redshirt off of 2 kids and they both ran pretty well - Jacob Russell, from Liberty Hill, finished in a strong 18th place and Samuel Lanham, from Benton, KY, finished in 30th. ACU tries to serve the Title IX god by keeping the XC active roster the same size as the women's XC roster or no more than 1 runner larger. ACU has a handful of redshirt kids who do not appear on the roster at all, which makes me think there may be 2 injuries of a longer term nature that might have lifted 2 of the redshirts up to active status - leaving the ACU active XC roster for the men approximately even with the women's roster. SFA does not appear to read the Title IX statute in the same way -- they have 23 men on their XC roster and only 11 women.

Oscar, I promise that I have not ignored your post on purpose. And, indeed both CBU and Utah Valley have really good XC teams. Here is some background on both teams by gender and in comparison to ACU and other WAC Schools:

WOMEN -- in a bit of irony, CBU and Utah Valley are tied for #19 in the nation, the only WAC schools in the national rankings. Utah Valley runs in the Mountain Region - arguably the toughest region the U.S. UVU is ranked #7 in the Mtn Region, yet is ranked #19(t) in the country. The Mtn Region has some very serious XC schools, with 4 in the top-10: UNM (#2), Northern Arizona (#4), BYU (#5), and Colorado (#7). UVU has done very well with athletes from the region who are passed over by BYU. CBU is ranked #4 in the Western Region - behind Stanford, Wash and Oregon. CBU has taken a very different approach to their recruiting -- they ONLY give scholarships to distance runners and they are VERY international-centric. They give out the full complement of 18 scholarships for women's T&F, but they only give them to distance runners. They have a 23 on their XC roster and 17 of them are internationals and none of their American runners break into their top-10. Having only distance runners means they will never win the outdoor T&F championship, but it certainly makes it tougher to compete with them on any race above 800 meters on the track.

ACU will always have a difficult time competing in the WAC XC race. To begin with, ACU does not give the full set of scholarships in T&F -- we give 80% of the maximum permitted. AND, those scholarships are distributed between distance runners, sprinter, hurdlers, throwers, jumpers and vaulters. Therefore, the margin is very slim for any injuries - since there is about 3-4 scholarships total given to distance runners. Irene Rono has obviously been a fantastic runner for ACU, winning the WAC championship in XC last year. Irene came very close to winning the Chile Pepper last week, only getting beaten by Arkansas' top runner and Arkansas is a top 10 team nationally. However, losing Tessa Holderman to a surgery and Grace White to a probable medical retirement has really hit this team hard. Prudence Kiyeng, who ran #2 or #3 last year for ACU all year is running again this year, but she is coming back from an injury she suffered this past summer. I have been extremely impressed with the new freshmen running for the 'Cats, who are maturing very quickly. With Irene running #1 for ACU and Prudence running #5, the other 5 spots in the top-7 for ACU were held by true freshman -- Kate Williams (#2), Payton Bornstein (#3), Isabella Evans (#4), Jenna Keeley (#6) and walkon freshman Kate Hansen (#7). Between Irene and the newbies, ACU has been able to hang onto the #9 spot in the South Central Region, ahead of SFA and schools like Baylor and UIW.

MEN - the CBU men replicates the women's team. There are 15 athletes on their XC roster and 10 are internationals and only 1-2 of their American kid typically break into their top 10. And, just like the women, CBU does not have anyone on their T&F team that is not a distance runner. Remember that NCAA men are only allowed to give out 12.6 scholarships. CBU is the only WAC school to break into the top 30 nationally, just sneaking in at 29th. In the regional rankings, CBU is ranked #4 in the West, behind Stanford, Gonzaga and Oregon. Over in the Mountain Region, Utah Valley comes in #9 and Southern Utah at #10 -- with both of those schools mostly signing kids who are not recruited by BYU (who is ranked #1 in the U.S. -- joined by fellow Mtn Region members Northern Arizona-#3 and Colorado-#8 in the top 10). Over in the South Central region, ACU is not ranked in the top 15, but Tarleton (#12), SFA (#14) and SHSU (#15) represents the WAC in the rankings.

Just like the ACU women, the ACU men do not give the full complement of scholarships in T&F. Typically, the team will have 2-3 scholarships tied up with distance runners, so the margin of error is razor thin. So having a substantial scholarship tied up in 3 international runners is a gamble that ACU has not won. Kevin Kipkosgei and Denis Lagat both graduate at midterm, but it was hoped they could help elevate the team this fall. But, Kevin has been injured again this fall -- he has not run for ACU in over 2 years due to a litany of injuries -- and he will not be back this year. Denis is trying to fight through injuries and might be able to help in XC this fall though he was not able to run at the Chile Pepper, but he too will graduate at midterm and will not run this coming spring.

ACU has a group of seasoned runners back this fall, mostly kids who are on small partial scholarships or substantial academic scholarships. Five of the top 7 this past weekend at the Chile Pepper were returnees -- Levi Chambers (#1 for ACU), Neal Helgerson (#2), Gabe Trevino (#3), Gabe Embree (#4) and Maxwel Kiplagat (#7). Some good news is that 2 walkon freshmen -- Samuel Lanham and Jacob Russell -- ran #5 and #6 for ACU this past weekend. This is a good story since both of them started the season off the roster -- redshirts who would be preparing to run on the track in the spring -- but with the injuries to some of the other runners, they were pressed into duty and have done an admirable job.