LSC Cross Country Preseason Predictions - 2013

Who would guess that after 2 decades of being a dominant force in cross country, that the departure of ACU to the Southland Conference would have less impact on the LSC than the departure of fellow SLC defector Incarnate Word, particularly in the women’s race. If and when McMurry becomes a full-fledged member of the LSC, they will have some impact, but for now, 7 LSC schools will go to the line in cross country and the team races should be hotly contested.

WOMEN – Midwestern came into the LSC meet last fall fully expecting to “four-peat” as LSC champs, but a spirited West Texas team stole away the crown in rather convincing fashion. Almost across the board, WT runners ran the race of their lifetime and the MSU runners ran just a bit behind their best. The upshot was a huge upset for WT and Midwestern vowing to come back in 2013 much stronger. On each school in the conference, I will give you the school’s 2012 finish, as well as their predicted finish in the official LSC preseason poll. As you will note, the 2013 predicted finish follows the 2012 place exactly, regardless of who was active in recruiting or who lost key people.

WEST TEXAS – finished 1^st in 2012 and picked first in 2013

Athletes lost – WT takes a HUGE hit in losing the 2012 LSC champ, Brenda Sindet, who was also of the top LSC athletes on the track – winning the 5K, finishing runnerup in the steeple, and 3^rd in the 1500; Jessica Blakely – an all-conference runner, finishing 13^th last fall; and they apparently let one of their Spaniards, Cristina Saladrich, go home – no big loss as she finished 33^rd last fall in cross country.

Returnees – Mireia Guarner (So) – another Spaniard who was the LSC runnerup last fall; Amber Moore (Sr) – 3^rd place last year to complete the WT sweep of the top spots; Emma Love (Jr) – 11^th last year, as well as scoring well on the track last spring with 5^th places in both the 5K and 10K; then the Sparks twins from tiny Wheeler, TX – Taylor in 17^th place and Haley in 22^nd; Rhemecka Graham finished 52^nd last year, but she is more of a halfmiler, finishing 6^th last season in that distance at the LSC track meet.

Signees – a solid group:

• ·         Carley Glass – freshman from Luling – she finished 9^th in the 2A XC meet last fall, then had an excellent state track meet, winning the 2A 3200 and finishing 4^th in the 1600
• ·         Emily Craft – freshman from Canyon Randall – 7^th in the 4A XC in the fall, then 7^th in the 4A 800 – she appears to be better suited to the 800/1500, like Rhemecka Graham
• ·         Michaela Johnson – Junior from Carlsbad, NM and transfer from South Plains – 55^th in the JC cross country and 17^th in the JC half-marathon – a veteran distance runner who never quite broke through running for SPC

West Texas will be good again this year, with 5 of their returnees in the top 22 at the LSC meet, BUT, they lose the LSC champ, plus a 13^th place finisher – 2 of the runners who counted for points in 2012 (in cross country, you count the first 5 finishers across the line in calculating the team points). They pick up one really strong freshman, plus another promising freshman and a JC transfer with potential. Still, overcoming Midwestern again will be pretty tough. My Pick – 2nd place

MIDWESTERN – 2^nd in 2012 and picked to finish 2^nd again 2013, by a rather narrow margin

Athletes lost – Tylo Farrar (30^th, which was 7^th on the MSU team – she transferred to Tarleton to run this year) and Nadia Majed  (35^th), a transfer from Oklahoma Baptist who had one year of XC eligibility to use

Returnees – Janel Campbell (Sr) – 8^th in 2012; Ashley Flores (Sr) – 9^th last fall in XC, then 3^rd in the LSC 5K and 6^th in the 1500); Abigail Gonzales (Sr) – 16^th last fall; the Krezonoski twins (both juniors), Michelle was 12^th in XC, as well as 6^th on the track in the 5K and 7^th in the 10K, and Kim – 19^th in XC last fall; Brittany Adams (So) – 26^th in XC; Melody Caldwell (Sr) – 32^nd last fall; Maira Salinas (So) – 27^th in XC; plus, Cara Mack (Jr), who placed a solid 16^th in 2010, before a severe injury caused her to redshirt 2011 and only run in a few meets in 2012 – if she is anywhere close to healthy, that represents a big plus for MSU.

Redshirts – Danielle Chavarria (RS-Jr) – 3^rd in the California Community College North Region XC in 2011; C.J. Frizzell (RS-Fr) – 39^th in the 4A XC-2011, then 4^th in the Region I-4A 800 in 2012, just missing a trip to state

Newcomers – heavy on the JC transfers, looking for instant impact:

• ·         Emma Ramirez (Jr) – transfer from Antelope Valley JC in California, where she was 3^rd in the California JC XC last fall, before finishing 3^rd in the CA JC 1500 last spring
• ·         Ruth Rodarte (Jr) – transfer from Los Angeles Trade Tech – 18^th in the California JC XC in 2012, then 1^st in the JC South Coast Conference 5K
• ·         Gabby Ruiz (Jr) – transfer from Allen CC in Kansas – 13^th in the JC national XC in 2012, then 4^th in the JC 10K and 6^th in the 5K on the track
• ·         Lucia Trejo (Jr) – transfer from Los Angeles Trade Tech – 58^th in the California JC cross country meet in 2012
• ·         Maranda Rodriguez (Fr) – she won District 26-5A 800 in 2012 (could find nothing for 2012-13)

Midwestern returns her top 6 finishers from 2012, adds 2 redshirts that probably would have been in their top 10 last years and adds a slew of JC transfers with credentials. Midwestern has a huge advantage over WT in they do not field anything by distance runners – they do not use scholarships on sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers or throwers. That advantage will show up bit this year. My Pick – 1^st.

ANGELO STATE – placed 4^th, behind Incarnate Word in 2012, picked 3^rd this year

Athletes lost – Emeline Crutcher – 6^th last fall and their leader for 4 years, in XC and on the track; Sofia Ramos – 25^th last fall; Kami Orsak – 27^th in 2012;  Jessica Boudreau – 28^th at the LSC XC meet; Katy Williams – 49^th in XC, although he finished a much more competitive 8^th in the LSC steeple in the spring.

Returnees – Annifer Flores (Jr) – 5^th in the LSC XC meet, the highest finisher for ASU in 2012; and Chastity King (So) – 53^rd in the XC meet in her first year from tiny Zephyr.

Newcomers – some kids with potential and 2 solid transfers, but a lot of losses to overcome

• ·         Chavelle Moreno (Jr) – from Comanche HS and a transfer from New Mexico JC – 54^th in the JC national XC meet, she was 6^th in the JC indoor and outdoor national track meets and will have much more impact outdoors next spring
• ·         Candida Chairez (So) – Del Rio HS and transferring from Incarnate Word, where she was 44^th in the LSC XC last year
• ·         Crystal Schlueter (Fr) – from Harper, where she was 23^rd in the 1A XC and 7^th in the 3200 on the track
• ·         Samantha Munderback (Fr) – Del Rio – 69^th in the Region IV-5A XC meet last fall
• ·         Alexis Latham (Fr) – from San Angelo Cornerstone Christian, where the graduating class is about 5-10 per year. I would not put much stock into this signing, since I could only find one result on Latham, BUT, the last kid who came to Angelo State from Cornerstone was Andria Nussey and she ended up a multiple time All-American. You never know.

Angelo took heavy losses from last year, 5 of their top 6 finishers at the LSC meet. They have replaced them with some runners who show promise, but not the level of the kids they lost. My Pick – 5^th place

EASTERN NEW MEXICO – 5^th in 2012 and picked 4^th in 2013.

Athletes lost: Adrienne Montoya – (only 36^th in 2012, she was 12^th in 2010 and only 1 place away from Freshman of the Year); Andrea Wittman (23^rd in 2012 – a very promising freshman who left at midterm last year); Leigh Ann Omarkhail (41^st, plus 9^th in the steeple on the track);  Jherica Rhodes (69^th in 2012)

Returnees – Brittany Buchanan (Sr) – 7^th in XC, then a disappointing 10^th in the 10K on the track; Amber Saiz (So) – 21^st in XC, then 9^th in the LSC 800; Beth Blind (Jr) – 38^th in XC; Sabrina Huelga (Jr) – 45^th in XC, but much stronger on the track, where she was 8^th in both the 800 and 1500; and a huge addition in Alesha Jones, who redshirted XC last year, but was the LSC runnerup in the 800 and placed in the steeple in 2012.

Newcomers – I don’t know that any of the newcomers can have a big impact in 2013

• ·         Bayleigh Baker – a home-schooled kid from Albuquerque, who ran XC in 2012 for Sterling College in Kansas, where she was 5^th in the Kansas Collegiate Conference meet
• ·         Blanca Zubia – from Hobbs originally, she ran for Odessa College in 2011, where she was 67^th in the JC cross country meet
• ·         Sarah Bertram – from Abilene Christian HS – 7^th in the TAPPS 2A 3200 in 2013

ENMU returns some key members of their squad from 2012, although they do lose 2 of their top 5 and 3 of their top 6 from a year ago. I don’t see their newcomers being able to pick up that slack, but they might well be able to hold onto 4^th place if they can pass Angelo. My Pick – 4^th place.

Tarleton State – 6^th in 2012 and picked for 5^th in 2013

Athletes lost – Celeste Meyer (14^th in XC – she was 3^rd in the LSC 10K last year on the track); Karen Ramming (42^nd); Ashley Husbands (43^rd), Kyndall Trnka (47^th)

Returning athletes – the most significant returnee is Lindsey Hinton, who is 2011 was 10^th in the LSC XC, then in the spring of 2012 was the most dominant distance runner in the LSC, winning the 5K and finishing runnerup in both the 1500 and 10K for 26 huge points – she redshirted all of 2012-2013; Katelin Huckabee (31^st); Tiffany Fagg (49^th);  Payton Shoush (55^th in XC, she is the former LSC 800 champ who is better suited to the shorter distances); Lauren Finley (56^th)

Newcomers – a good crop with loads of potential, including some transfers for instant impact

• ·         Tylo Farrar – Spearman HS, transferring from Midwestern – she was 30^th in the LSC XC meet in 2012, higher than any other TSU returnee
• ·         Audrey Shelton – Clarendon – 6^th in the 1A XC in the fall, she came back to win the 1A 800 and finish 3^rd in the 1600 – her only drawback is that she may be more suited to the 800 than the longer collegiate XC distance
• ·         Alyson Coughlin – Rockwall Heath, transferring from Northwestern State (LA) – 61^st in the Southland Conf XC, then 12^th in the SLC 1500 on the track
• ·         Sarai Clendenin – freshman from Hot Springs, NM – at the NM District 3-3A meet last year, she won the 800, 1600 and 3200 (as well as the pole vault), then finished 3^rd in the NM 3A PV – a vaulting distance runner, something you don’t see that often
• ·         Aissa Martinez – freshman from Fairfax, VA; Lillianna Castaneda – freshman from Copperas Cove; Alexandra Austin – junior from Converse Judson

It is huge to get Lindsey Hinton back for her final season. The only hiccup is that TSU lost Celeste Meyer with eligibility remaining. The addition of 2 transfers and with a moderate improvement from 2-3 of their returnees or freshmen and this team is close to contending for the LSC title. My pick – 3^rd place

Texas A&M – Commerce – 7^th in the 2012 and picked 6^th this year

Athletes lost – Jennifer Speer (51^st)

Returnees – Caroline Cotsakis (29^th); Mary Hammonds (46^th in the XC, but she scored on the track with an 8^th place finish in the 10K; Katie Romero (54^th); Julieta Esquivel (59^th); Tori Lenz-Selvera (60^th); Brooke Farris (63^rd); Kendall Christmas (66^th); Mackenzie Myers (68^th); Kelli Hardenbrook (70^th)

Newcomers – a good bunch

• ·         Terra Truitt – freshman from Pampa – 2^nd in the 3A XC, she was 4^th in the Region I-3A 3200 on te track, just missing a trip to the state meet
• ·         Kelsey Grier – Melissa HS, transferring from Southern Arkansas – she was 9^th at the Great American Conference XC meet last fall – the GAC is that conference that split off from the LSC and it is a solid XC conference
• ·         Madalyen Pearce – Celeste HS – 55^th in the 3A XC meet last fall – she was primarily a basketball players in HS
• ·         Dara Darnell – Keller Timber Creek – she was 5^th in the Dist 5-4A XC in 2011 (running the former 2 mile distance; then Timber Creek moved to 5A and the distance moved to a 5K (3.1 miles) and she suffered, finishing far back in the pack

Commerce made big strides last year in becoming competitive in the LSC, with a team made up almost entirely of underclassmen. They have added 2-3 people who should help immediately again. I am only picking them 6^th, but they certainly seem capable of moving up a place or two. My Pick – 6^th place

Texas A&M – Kingsville – 8^th in 2012 (ahead of only ACU), picked 7^th this year

Athletes lost – Danica Huerta (58^th)

Returnees – Rebekah Jimenez (57^th); Marisa Reyes (61^st in XC, but turned around and placed 6^th in the LSC steeple last spring); Tezna Roy (65^th); Anna Richburg (71^st); Victoria Bankes (73^rd); plus, several athletes who did not compete in XC, but did on the track , including Marissa Acosta (12^th in the steeple), Janae Lewis (15^th in the 800), and Taylor Moore (20^th in the 800).

Newcomers – mostly kids from the Rio Grande Valley, which has strong distance programs

• ·         Vallerie Rodriguez – freshman from Mission Sharyland – 102^nd in the 5A XC, she is much better suited to the shorter distances – she was 3^rd in the Region IV-5A 800, missing a trip to the state meet by a few tenths. 
• ·         Jenyse Vasquez – freshman from Edinburg North – 2^nd in the District 30-5A 800
• ·         Amy Mendoza – freshman from PSJA North – 4^th in the District 31-5A 1600 and 3200

Kingsville has had a hard time replicating their great success in the distance races that they have experienced in the sprints and field events (2 Kingsville men won the D-II track meet in the high jump and pole vault, respectively). A good sign for Kingsville is that their numbers are up quite a bit in XC, which is usually a precursor to a team’s improvement (see the Commerce women last year). My pick – 7^th place.

MEN

The loss of both ACU and Incarnate Word will have an impact on the LSC cross country men’s race in 2013. What will probably have an even greater impact will be the serious losses that Eastern New Mexico took when they underwent a coaching change at mid-term last year. Many outstanding runners left at midterm. Therefore the top spot should be a tossup between 3 and possibly even 4 teams in 2013.

ENMU – finished a commanding first in 2013 and picked 1^st again in 2013

Athletes lost – start with the most dominant distance runner in the LSC – Isaiah Samoei, who won the LSC XC meet last fall, then won the LSC indoor 3K and 5K last February, but did not run outdoors – Samoei finished his college eligibility; Patrick Lueras – 13^th in the LSC XC in 2012, he left ENMU at midterm; Marquez Hobson – 23^rd in the LSC XC last fall, he was gone at midterm as well; Jacob Lozano – who was 3^rd in the LSC 10K on the track in 2012, was on the 2012 XC roster, but did not run; Irwin Vera – 44^th in the XC meet, then gone at midterm

Returnees – the cupboard for ENMU is far from bare – the aptly name Greyhounds still return some strong runners, led by Kaspars Briska, the transfer from Cloud County, who was 4^th in the LSC XC, then won the 5K and was runner-up on the steeple last spring; Kevin Roa (8^th in the XC meet and 6^th in the LSC 5K on the track); Trevor Merhege (11^th in the LSC XC, as well as 5^th in the 5K and 4^th in the steeple on the track); and Zerrick Vriseno (22^nd in XC, 7^th in the LSC 10K on the track last spring).

• Newcomers – ENMU has not sat idly by, watching their years of LSC cross country dominance fade away. The new ENMU coach has been actively recruiting and they have added some kids who will help. It is an interesting mix of transfers and freshmen:
• ·         The top addition is only a half-newcomer  - Justin Samaniego transferred to ENMU at midterm from Riverside CC in California last year and placed 5^th in the 10K on the track
• ·         Cesar Sanabria – transferring from Grand Canyon, after 2 years at Butler County – he was a solid JC runner at Butler, finishing 7^th in the JC 10K on the track, but could not break into the top 7 at Grand Canyon
• ·         Mikey Davila – a transfer from Moreno Valley, CA and Riverside Comm College – I could not find any XC results, but I did find a strong 3:48 1500 time
• ·         Kenneth Kimani – transfer from Kenya and Oklahoma City University – a disappointing 26^th in the Sooner Athletic Conf XC last fall, he placed 8^th in the SAC 1500 on the track
• ·         Christian Ruiz – freshman from Sudan, TX, where he was 6^th in the 1A 3200 at the state meet
• ·         Zach Walling – transfer from Scottsdale College – 14^th in the JC indoor 5K, could find not XC result
• ·         Derrick Montelongo – freshman from Ruidoso, where he was 16^th in the NM 3A XC and 6^th in the 800 on the track
• ·         Chase Beausoleil – freshman from Clovis – 36^th in the NM 5A XC and 9^th in the 1600 on the track

ENMU returns 3 runners who were in the top 11 at the conference meet in 2012. Several of their transfers are trying to rebound from sub-par seasons in 2012-13. If one or more of them succeed, ENMU might be able to hold off the schools trying to knock them off the top LSC perch. My pick – 3^rd place

West Texas A&M – 2^nd in 2012 and picked 2^nd again this year

Athletes lost  - only one, Jonathan Flores who finished 69^th in the LSC last year (9^th among WT runners)

Returnees – basically everyone, led by LSC XC runner-up Dylan Doss, who won the LSC steeple, was runner-up in the 4K and finished 4^th in the 1500 on the track; Baptiste Moreu – 5^th in the XC meet, he did not score at all in the track meet last fall, finishing a disappointing 9^th in the 1500; Patrick Schuechzer (14^th in the XC meet); Lucas Marquez (20^th in the XC meet, he was 7^th in the LSC 1500 as a true freshman); Alexander Korn (only 35^th in the XC meet, he is the LSC 800 meter champ – he simply may be better suited to the shorter distances); Hugo Aguinaga – 38^th in the XC meet; Martin Puga (43^rd in the XC meet, then 13^th in the 800 on track – another one who might be better suited to the shorter distance races); Merritt Vaughn (very disappointing 64^th in the XC meet, then turned around and placed 6^th in the LSC 1500, as well as 10^th in the 800 on the track).

Newcomers – it is hard to find much on the international runners, but WT has had some success with their internationals:

• ·         Steve Lagat and Evans Langat – both from Kenya and good luck on ever finding any results on high school kids in Kenya, but I have to think these kids can help
• ·         Anthony Baurnal – a French kid – I could find no results, but the French seem to be terribly popular in the LSC these days
• ·         Brett Villareal – transfer from ENMU – he is only a “half-newcomer” – he began running for WT at midterm last year and placed 6^th in the LSC 10K on the track, a good indicator of future XC success
• ·         Paul Fort – French native transferring to WT from American International, which is a D-II school – 30^th in the Northeast 10 XC last fall, as well as 10^th in the 10K on the track
• ·         Armando Rueda – transfer from Mayfield, NM, and New Mexico State, by way of ENMU, where he spent about 10 minutes – his brother runs for Texas Tech
• ·         Cameron Gifford  - from Frisco and a transfer from Baylor – 9^th in the 4A 1600 in 2011, he was never able to break into the Baylor lineup
• ·         Junior Baca – freshman from Muleshoe – the 2A 800 meter champ in 2012, he was more of a 400/800 guy in HS than a distance runner

WT returns the core of a really good team and has added a boatload of new runners. If even 2 of the new runners come through, then this team wins the conference meet. My pick – 1^st place

Tarleton – 3^rd in 2012 and picked 3^rd this year

Athletes lost – only one, Jeffrey Currie – 55^th in the XC meet (7^th on the team)

Returnees  - another team with virtually everyone returning off a team has that been on an upward trend for the past 2 years. Tye Doty was 3^rd in the LSC XC and 2^nd on the track in the 10K. Chase Rathke was 7^th in the LSC XC meet and 5^th in the 800 on the track, plus 9^th in the 5K – that rare athlete who has speed enough to be a good half-miler and stamina enough to run the longer distances well; Miles Joslin – 9^th in the XC and 8^th on the track in the 10K; Dylan Willett – a disappointing 25^th in XC, then came back to finish runner-up in the 1500 on the track; Thorne Pettigrew – 39^th in the LSC XC; James Polasek (41^st in the LSC XC); Brian Cooper – 70^th LSC XC; Mason Wrobel – 74^th LSC XC.

Newcomers – lots of new bodies, not many fantastic accomplishments in the bunch – most of them look like projects, but 2-3 have the potential to help in this first year:

• ·         Luke Scribner – a transfer from Farmersville and McMurry – a solid HS runner, he did not run at the NCCAA national XC meet last fall for McMurry, but he did place 3^rd in the McMurry/Heartland Inv 800 (that meet was held in lieu of a conference meet, since the Heartland only has 4 schools that have a track and field team)
• ·         Robert Pereira – freshman from Salado – 19^th in the 2A XC last fall, then 8^th in the state meet in the 2A 800
• ·         Ben Haynes – freshman from North Mesquite – he won the District 12-5A 1600 and 3200, then barely missed the state meet, finishing 4^th in the Region II-5A 1600
• ·         Timotea Longoria – freshman from San Antonio Churchill – 5^th in the District 26-5A 800 in 2012, could find no results in 2012-13 season
• ·         James Bodnar – freshman from Hebron – 9^th in the District 5-5A XC in the fall before finishing 8^th in the district 3200 on the track
• ·         Caleb Frandsen – freshman from Justin Northwest – 29^th in the District 4-5A XC and 8^th in the district 3200 last spring

Tarleton has a nucleus of a very good team back, with at least 4 runners who could finish in the top 15. If one or two of their new kids come through, this is a very good team that could even vie to the championship. My pick – 2^nd place

Texas A&M – Commerce – 4^th last year and picked 4^th again this year

Athletes lost - Alex Kimp (32^nd last fall in the XC meet) and Ross Hicks (58^th in XC, but he placed 8^th on the track last spring in the 1500)

Returnees – this group is led by one of the top freshmen in the LSC in 2012-13 – Dorian McCradic (6^th in the XC meet and 3^rd in the 1500 on the track); Luis Romero (15^th in the XC meet, then runner-up in the LSC 800 on the track – again, one of those rare people who have speed to run the half mile and still have enough stamina for the XC distances); Everett Wilder (18^th in the XC race, then a strong 3^rd in the 10K and 7^th in the 5K on the track); Fredrick Kipsang (so far, an underachiever after transfer from Middle Tennessee State – 33^rd in the XC meet, but 5^th in the steeple); Elias Garza (45^th in XC); Raymond Mata (46^th in XC); Tyler Hemnway – 49^th in XC, but came back to run a decent 10^th in the LSC 1500.

Newcomers – a solid batch of new runners:

• ·         Ivan Rodriguez – freshman from El Paso Del Valle – at the 4A state meet, he was 4^th in the 1600 and 7^th in the 3200, after finishing a strong 3^rd in the 4A XC meet last fall – a quality addition
• ·        
Tristen Woods – freshman from Lufkin Hudson – 9^th in the 3A 3200 on the track, after finishing 16^th in the 3A XC last fall
• ·         Mark Gonzalez  - freshman from Hurst Bell – won the District 6-5A 1600 and 3200
• ·         Joey Dooley – freshman from Hurst Bell – won the District 6-5A 500 and was 3^rd in the 1600
• ·         Brandon Rojo – freshman from The Colony – 8^th District 8-4A 3200
• ·         Zach Lindquist – freshman from Keller Timber Creek – 13^th in the District 13-5A XC

Commerce received great production from some youngsters last year and followed up with another solid recruiting class. They could slip into the top 3 teams with good production from even 1-2 of their freshmen. My pick – 4^th place

Angelo State – 5^th last year and picked 5^th this year

Athletes lost – Josh Day (31^st in the LSC meet), Isac Valdez (36^th in XC); Anthony Rabaey (75^th in the LSC meet) – Angelo loses their 5^th, 6^th and 7^th runner off a 7 man squad

Returnees – Jamin Goecker (10^th in the XC meet, but did not score a point on the track – best was 9^th in the 10K); Dylan Littlejohn (17^th in the XC meet); Tomas Callejas (19^th in XC, but only 13^th in the 1500 on the track; Graham Hazlewood (only 30^th in the XC, he was the only Ram distance runner to score on the track, picking up a 6^th in the steeple).

Newcomers – only picked up 1, possibly 2 kids who could make much impact in XC;

• ·         James Muniz – freshman from Abilene HS – 8^th in the 5A 800 and 57^th in the Region I-5A XC meet – could really help, I have seen him run many times and he has great potential
• ·         Dallas Kaiser – transfer from Baker College, where he was 12^th in the Heart of America Athletic Conference 10K – HAAC is a NAIA conference
• ·         Justin LaPierre – freshman from Wall – 3^rd Dist 6-2A 800 and 13^th in the Region I-2A XC
• ·         Zachary Stevens – freshman from Leander Rouse (26^th in the District 26-4A XC) and Patrick Torres – freshman from San Antonio Stevens (107^th in the Region IV-5A XC)

ASU will still have a severe depth problem. If everyone stays healthy, they should be able to hold onto the 5^th place they have been predicted for in 2013. My pick – 5^th

Cameron – 8^th in 2013 and picked 6^th this year

Athletes lost – Moses Kipkosgei (21^st in XC); Corban Marcantel (47^th in LSC); and Jacob Tylers (53^rd XC) – the 1^st, 4^th and 6^th runners for the team

Returnees – Janis Pastors (29^th XC); Grant Wignall (42^nd XC); Cody Campbell (48^th XC); Cole Atchinson (66^th XC).

Newcomers  - I can’t tell a whole lot about their recruits, but that is common with Cameron:

• ·         Kilian Schreiner – a freshman from Germany – I found a solid 14:55 in the 5K
• ·         Damien Porter – a freshman from Summerville, GA – 7^th in the Georgia 2A 3200
• ·         Raul Correa – freshman from Fort Worth South Hills – 7^th in the District 7-4A 3200
• ·         Methuselah Lagat – freshman from Kenya – I can find nothing on his, but he does have great name – hopefully, it won’t take 969 years for him to finish his race!
• Predicting what kind of team Cameron will have is always an iffy proposition. They lost their best runner. 

They have at least 2 internationals who might be good, but it is hard to say. Since they don’t field a track and field team, only a XC team, there is little tangible evidence of how their athletes are progressing. My pick – 6^th

Texas A&M – Kingsville – 9^th in 2012, picked 7^th this season

Athletes lost – Calvin Scharf (50^th LSC XC); Chris Garza (56^th LSC XC); Josh Prado (57^th LSC XC; Anthony Rivas (62^nd LSC); and Patrick Alexshonis (67^th LSC).

Returnees – Emmanuel Ibanez – 52^nd in 2012; Ty Ramos – 60^th in 2012; Michael Idziak – 63^rd in 2012, then he won the LSC indoor 800 and finished 4^th in the 800 outdoors; Richard Hernandez – 68^th XC in 2012. Also, Andre Fuqua is back on the roster – 9^th in the LSC steeple in 2012, he apparently redshirted all of the 2012-13 season.

Newcomers – no one that appears to have the ability to have an impact immediately:

• ·         Damian Feeney – freshman from North Rockland – a cross country specialist – could find little info on him
• ·         Ryan Richardson – Junior – finished 12^th in the LSC 800 in 2012, redshirted all of 2012-13 and appears to be moving up in distance
• ·         Newcomers Jeremiah Santos, Joshua Taylor and Stephen Elizondo – I can’t find anything on them

Kingsville made their biggest splash in a while last year in field events. The Javs have been able to build a strong team in the sprints and field events, but that has not translated into the distance events (and by extension, into cross country). The Hoggies appear to still be a long way from being competitive in the LSC in XC. My Pick – 7th