By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider 
            On the job for less than a month, first-year Baylor cross country coach David Barnett is trying to "create a sense of urgency" going into Wednesday's season-opening meet. 
            "When the lights come on . . . you need to show up," said Barnett, who came to Baylor after spending the last four years at Auburn. "Whether it's the regional meet or a workout at the track, we just want to make sure we're making the most of every opportunity."
            One of those opportunities will come Wednesday at the Aggie Opener, a 10-team meet at Texas A&M's Watts Cross Country Course in College Station. The women's 4.1-kilometer race starts at 6:45 p.m., followed by the men's 6K at 7:15. 
            Calling it a "dress rehearsal," Barnett will take a full team of seven runners for the women's team but only five men to a meet that includes teams from Texas A&M, Abilene Christian, Houston, Prairie View, Rice (women), SMU (women), TCU, Texas Southern (men) and University of St. Thomas. 
            "This season and moving forward, I'm going to be pretty particular on who gets to race," Barnett said. "I don't race people because they're seniors. I don't race people because we're going to see where you are. I race people that I think are ready to race, for the most part, and then we go from there."
            On the men's side, seniors Ryan Hodge, Alec Atteberry and Philip Roxas will be joined by first-year freshmen Drew Snyder and Beau Thomason. 
            Hodge a scoring runner in all eight meets he's competed in over the past two seasons, said Barnett's arrival was "like a fresh wind hit the program, particularly for the guys' side."
            "We're just excited about where we can go," Hodge said. "The bar has been raised, so we're all just striving for that."
            Since the men don't have the depth like the women do, one of the keys will be staying healthy through a challenging schedule that includes two more trips to A&M, the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo., and the Big 12 Championship in Stillwater, Okla. 
            "You just want to make sure, first off, that you keep everybody healthy," Barnett said. "Keep everybody healthy, then you can actually find out what they're capable of. Running is a long-term sport, it takes times to reach the goals you want to reach. Basically, I just want to make sure we're competitive with the people we're able to be competitive with right now, with the long-term goal of getting better and better every season."
            The women's team is led by senior Celia Holmes and grad transfer Ellie Friesen from South Dakota State, the runner-up at last year's Summit League Championships. But otherwise, it's an extremely young squad running at A&M, with sophomore Chloe Gangnath and freshmen Hayden Gold, Devon Vopni, Jordan Ledington and Catherine Urbani. 
            "We've got some really great upperclassmen," Holmes said, "but we also have a lot of freshmen that did their homework this summer and came ready to work hard."
            A scoring runner at each of the team's 16 meets over the last three seasons, Holmes said her four years at Baylor have flown by. 
            "It's crazy how fast time flies by," said Holmes, who won the season-opening ACU Invitational last fall and had a top-30 finish at the Big 12 meet. "I definitely have unfinished business from last year. Especially coming off of COVID, we're hungry. We're hungry to compete at a high level. . . . If we can all stay healthy, I think we're going to be looking for some awesome places this year."
            Barnett, who started at Baylor just four weeks ago, added the Aggie Opener and the Missouri meet to the existing schedule set up by former associate head cross country coach Jon Capron. 
            "The biggest thing is Missouri has a brand-new cross country course," Barnett said. "They're hosting the SEC meet this fall and hosting nationals in 2025. I wanted to be on a hilly course. Conference is at Oklahoma State, a very hill course, very challenging. I thought it was important for us to go to another hilly course, just to get a taste of that about a month out. And it's good to see some fresh faces."
            After traveling to Stillwater, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships on Oct. 29, Baylor will host the NCAA South Central Regional Nov. 12 at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course. Two years ago, the men and women both placed seventh when the Big 12 meet was held on the same track at Cottonwood. 
            "To be honest, our team didn't place as high as we wanted to at that one," Holmes said. "I think for the juniors and seniors who have raced there before, we know what it takes. It's a hilly course and really challenging to run fast on, but we have the advantage. We live here in Waco and we can go run those hills. We'll definitely be way more ready to go as the season progresses."
            As a new coach coming in, Barnett said he could have given up the regional meet to someone else, "but I think when you get it, you need to do it and you need to do a good job with it."
            "Hopefully, it creates a sense of urgency for everybody involved," he said. "Historically, it's a great course and people love it. So, we've got to make the most of it, because it doesn't get any better than (running on) your home course."


THE RUNDOWN

WACO, Texas – A new era in Baylor cross country begins Wednesday as the Bears travel to College Station for the Aggie Opener at Watts Cross Country Course.
 
"It's a dress rehearsal," head cross country coach David Barnett said. "I really want to see a sense of urgency that you have to make the most of this opportunity. I just want to see great effort, and from there, I can kind of piece together who's who as I'm figuring out the dynamics of the team."
 
Baylor will run for the first time under the direction of Barnett, with the women's 4.1K kicking things off at 6:45 p.m. CT and the men's 6K closing things out at 7:15 p.m. CT.
 
"With these being shorter races, it will be a chance for some of these folks in our middle distance to kind of mix it up and see what they can do," Barnett said. "So, that should be good."
 
Coming into the season, the women's team is ranked No. 4 in the South Central Region, while the men's team is currently unranked. 
 
Competing for the women's team will be grad transfer Ellie Friesen, senior Celia Holmes, sophomore Chloe Gangnath and freshmen Hayden Gold, Devon Vopni, Jordan Ledington and Catherine Urbani.
 
On the men's side, seniors Ryan Hodge, Philip Roxas and Alec Atteberry will be joined by freshmen Drew Snyder and Beau Thomason.
 
The Bears will be going up against host Texas A&M, ACU, Houston, Prairie View, Rice (women), SMU (women), TCU, Texas Southern (men) and the University of St. Thomas.
 
Live results from the Aggie Opener will be provided by Flash Results.
 
For updates on Baylor cross country throughout the season, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.