Texans look to carry fast start east at Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday

The Meet: Texas A&M Invitational

Date: Saturday, Sept. 25

Location: Watts Cross Country Course in Bryan-College Station, Texas

ABOUT THE TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL

Fresh off its fastest start to a cross country season in recent memory, Tarleton faces its first litmus test of the fall with a trip east to College Station.

After racing on a 5k course on Sept. 11 at the UTA Invitational to commence the 2021 campaign, the distance ratchets up. The course extends nearly two miles further for the men, who kick things off at 8 a.m. with an 8k race. The women will follow around 8:45 a.m. on a 6k course. It marks the first time this fall both teams will race the distance set for the Western Athletic Conference Championships, which take place on Oct. 30 in Riverside, California.

The meet field at Texas A&M features a noticeable spike as well. Seven Division I teams will toe the start line alongside the Texans and Aggies: Arkansas-Little Rock, Baylor, North Texas, Prairie View A&M, Rice, Texas Southern (men) and UTSA. Rounding out the teams list are former Lone Star Conference rivals Texas A&M-International and Texas A&M-Kingsville.

This will be the first of two appearances in College Station over the next month for Tarleton. Following a short drive to Ranger for the William Graham Ranger College Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 8, the Texans return to Watts Cross Country Course on Oct. 16 for the Arturo Barrios Invitational.

Live results of the meet are available at FlashResults.com. Visit the cross country schedule page on TarletonSports.com to access links to live results as well as meet and course information.

LAST TIME OUT: UTA INVITATIONAL

Improvement on both rosters was apparent at Tarleton's season-opener.

Of the 12 competitors who raced for the Texans, 10 notched collegiate 5k cross country personal records. All six men crossed the finish line in under 16:00 while five placed inside the top-20. The women notched four-top-30 finishes and averaged a 19:42.90 team pace.

The men placed third (64 points) while the women finished fifth (126 points).

Kevin Baez was Tarleton's top performer in either race. He crossed the finish line in 14:58.40 to place fourth. For the women, Jenna Brazeal led the way with a 15th-place finish in 18:57.80.

Four of the six athletes who raced for the men are freshmen: John Sutton (15:26, 12th), Khristian Vastlik (15:26.40, 13th), Mason Alexander (15:48.60, 20th) and Angel Gomez (15:52.90, 21st).

Two returners on the women's side notched substantial personal records. Senior Johnnie Wilkinson improved her 5k time by 43 seconds as she finished 23rd in 19:39.40. The largest leap belonged to Kaleigh Ellis, as the junior bested her previous 5k personal record by 1:52 at 20:02.20.

UP NEXT: WILLIAM GRAHAM RANGER COLLEGE CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL

Head coach Pat Ponder said he anticipates using Tarleton's third-of-five meets as an opportunity to give underclassmen and newcomers racing experience. Of the 26 athletes listed on the Texans' combined roster, 13 are in their first year with the program and 11 are freshmen.

NOTABLE NOTES

Baez's performance at UTA was the first top-five finish in his Texan career. The Vanderbilt, Texas native has cracked the top-10 five times in his three years in Stephenville and finished ninth-or-better in each of Tarleton's last three races dating back to the spring 2021 season.

Speaking of Baez, the junior is well on his way to going down as one of the all-time great athletes to race under Ponder. He delivered the fastest 8k time at a conference championship race in more than a decade at the WAC Cross Country Championships on Feb. 27. Baez took ninth place in 25:04 and earned All-WAC second team honors at the conclusion of the meet, becoming the first athlete in Tarleton's D1 era to receive All-Conference recognition. Last spring, Baez came within 16 seconds of breaking Tarleton's 10k school record (31:50.44) at the WAC Championships. He currently ranks eighth on Tarleton's outdoor track and field records list in the 1,500m, 5k and 10k. In August, Baez was chosen as The Grove Student Athlete of the Year for the 2020-21 athletics season.
Brazeal has been the fastest women's finisher in each of her last two races. Also a junior, she clocked a 6k time of 23:26.17 at the Incarnate Word Invitational on Jan. 29, which was the top time of any women's competitor for Tarleton in its truncated spring season.
A duo of freshmen from north Texas are expected to be fixtures in the women's result sheets for the foreseeable future. Allison Hedrick (Lindsay HS) and Sage Lancaster (Denton Ryan HS) finished third and fourth, respectively, for Tarleton at UTA with times of 19:54.30 and 20:02.20. Hedrick was a five-time TX UIL 2A state champion at Lindsay HS while Lancaster won a District 08 5A Cross Country Championship her junior year with a time of 19:26.09 on a 5k course.
Nine of the 10 athletes who suited up for Tarleton during its spring 2021 season are back this fall. Sophomores Bryer Atkinson, Lucas Kurtz, Riley McClure and Magaly Lopez competed at both the UIW Invitational and WAC Cross Country Championships.
Not one, but two sets of siblings adorn Purple and White for Tarleton cross country. Both Cory Calvani and Kevin Calvani joined the program in 2020 by way of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Cory, a junior, was a member of the UTEP cross country and track and field teams for two years before transferring to Tarleton. The younger Calvani, Kevin, was Tarleton's No. 2 performer in the 800m during the 2021 track and field season. He notched a personal record of 1:57.97 at the WAC Championships to conclude his freshmen year. At UTA, two of Ponder's six men's competitors share the surname of Vastlik. Joining Khristian Vastlik in the top-20 at Grand Prairie was his older brother, junior Dominick Vastlik. The elder Vastlik placed 15th in 15:37.
Among Ponder's newcomers are four standout college transfers. Sophomore Aimee Landers-Wilburn, who took 32nd at UTA in 20:05.90, broke school records in the 5k and 10k at Austin College before arriving in Stephenville. Fellow sophomore Maria Diaz-Fernandez received All-Great American Conference honors during the 2021 track and field season after placing fourth in the 800m at the GAC Championships. Senior Vianney Sanchez was a two-time NCAA South Central Regional qualifier in cross country in her four years at Arkansas-Little Rock. For the men, junior Robert King finished 54th at the 2020 NJCAA Region XI Cross Country Championships in his second of two years at Iowa Western CC.