Incarnate Word Cross Country Preview

Special by Don Garrett

2012 Cross Country Preview: Incarnate Word

UIW had a disappointing season for both their men and their women in 2011, but Coach Derek Riedel spent the off-season doing some serious re-tooling on both teams. Both teams look more competitive, particularly the women’s team.

WOMEN – finished a disappointing 7^th, only 6 points behind Tarleton, but 95 points ahead of 7^th place TAMU-K. But, they were led in 2011 by their youngsters, their top 2 finishers at conference were freshmen. Recruiting went extremely well for UIW and I can see them making a big jump in 2012.

LOST FROM LAST SEASON

·         Amanda McCoy – 46^th in XC last fall, she finished 12^th in the LSC 10K on the track

·         Meagan Hoff – 52^nd in XC, she did not compete on the track last spring

RETURNING

·         Emma Jewell – So – one of the better freshmen in the LSC in 2011, she finished 14^th in XC, then came back in the spring to place 5^th in the LSC steeple

·         Irma Garza – So – 22^nd in SC,  then in the spring she just missed the finals in the 800, finishing 10^th in the prelims

·         Stephanie Glatt – Sr – 45^th in XC, she turned around and had a very good meet on the track last spring, placing in both the steeple (7^th) and the 5K (8^th) – should be more of a factor in XC in 2012 based on that performance

·         Alma Salinas – Sr – 50^th in XC last fall, then 12^th in the 1500 on the track

·         Alyson Gonzales – Sr – ran a disappointing 63^rd at the XC meet, but almost placed in the 10K on the track, finishing 9^th, just seconds from scoring

·         Bailey Loyd – Jr – finished 28^th in the 2010 LSC XC meet, but has had an injury marred career. She was healthy enough to run at the LSC Indoor Invitational and won the 5K and was 5^th in the mile, but was injured outdoors. If healthy, she could add immensely to UIW’s XC hopes

·         Jackie Arnold – redshirt freshman – ran on the track last spring, with a 19^th place in the 800

NEWCOMERS

·         Marine Vaillant – junior from France – found good times for her – a 4:37 in the 1500 (a 4:36 won conference last spring), plus a 10:58 steeple and a 2:16 800 – should really help in XC and on the track

·         Christian “Rainy” Castaneda – freshman form Laredo United South – won the District 29-5A 1600 and 3200 and placed 5^th in the Region IV-5A 3200, narrowly missing a trip to state – 84^th at the 5A state XC meet

·         Kaitlyn Savage – freshman or soph from Boerne Champion – 8^th in the 4A 1600 in 2011, she is from a very serious track and field HS – I could not find anything for her in 2012, so she might be a freshman in eligibility

·         Lindsay Frost – freshman from Gregory-Portland – after winning the 1600 and 3200 in District 30-4A, she placed 6^th in the Region IV-4A 3200 – also 17^th in the Region IV-4A XC meet last fall

·         Adriana “Ceci” Garcia – freshman from Laredo Alexander – won the District 29-5A 800, then got 5^th in the Region IV-5A 800 last spring

·         Alexis Montero – freshman from Edinburg North – 5^th in the District 31-5A XC last fall, at the district track meet she was 2^nd in the 1600 and 5^th in the 3200

·         Candide Chairez – freshman from Del Rio – 3^rd in the 1600 and 6^th in the 800 at the District 29-5A track meet

·         Claudia Ramirez – freshman from Del Rio – in 2011, she was 4^th in the 3200 and 6^th in the 1600 at the District 29-5A meet

MEN – ran poorly at the LSC meet in 2011, finishing 9^th and last, 23 points behind 8^th place Cameron. Lost their top runner from 2011, but brought in several new faces and has the potential to be considerably better than 2011.

LOST FROM LAST YEAR

·         Howard Gill – led UIW with a 36^th place last year in the XC meet, then had a strong LSC track meet, picking up 5^th in the 1500 and 7^th in the 800

·         Marcos Mora  - 40^th in the XC meet in 2011, an auto accident scuttled his spring track season – not sure if he is just redshirting XC or if he may be gone altogether – he has some real potential if he can get healthy

·         Luke Wempe – 53^rd in the XC meet and did not run at the conference track meet

·         Hunter Bradshaw – 75^th in the XC meet and did not run at the conference track meet

RETURNEES

·         Solomon Rotich – Sr - 21^st at the LSC XC meet, he had a terribly disappointing track meet last spring – UIW needs him to step up and compete to his capability

·         Hilario Coronado – Sr - 44^th in the fall in XC, he did not run at the spring track meet

·         Christian Chacon – Jr – 47^th in the fall in XC, but he did not run outdoors after finishing 6^th in the LSC Indoor Inv mile

·         Marcos Mora – So – ran pretty well early in the XC season in 2011, then only finished 71^st at conference, then 17^th in the LSC 1500 on the track

·         Nathan Sosa – So – 76^th in XC, then did not run at the LSC track meet

NEWCOMERS

·         Sebastian Benavidez – Soph transfer from UT-Pan Am – former 3A runner-up in the 1600 for Lytle, he placed 11^th in the Great West Conference indoor mile and 12^th in the 1500 outdoors – lots of potential

·         Caleb Gutierrez – freshman from New Braunfels – at the District 25-5A meet, he won the 3200 and was 3^rd in the 1600

·         Brandon Hernandez – freshman from San Antonio Central Catholic – one of the top distance runners in TAPPS 5A (the largest division), finishing 3^rd at the XC meet and 2^nd in the 3200 on the track

·         Michael Luevano – freshman from Boerne – placed 3^rd in both the 800 and 1600 at the District 26-3A track meet

·         Javier Salas – freshman from San Antonio East Central – 9^th in the 5A 3200, after winning the District 28-5A 1600 and 3200 and getting into the state meet as the fastest 3^rd place time, finishing 3^rd in the 3200 in Region IV-5A