Texans trek west to Ranger for final XC tune up ahead of stretch run

The Meet: William Graham Ranger College Cross Country Invitational

Date: Friday, Oct. 8

Location: Ranger College Campus

ABOUT THE RANGER COLLEGE INVITATIONAL

Just three weeks away from the Western Athletic Conference Championships, Tarleton possesses a dual opportunity to fine-tune its likely championship lineup and provide underclassmen and newcomers with invaluable racing experience.

Even though a return trip on Oct. 16 to College Station for the Arturo Barrios Invitational looms, the Tarleton anticipates racing most of its athletes who competed in the program's first two meets this fall, the UTA Invitational (Sept. 11) and Texas A&M Invitational (Sept. 25). Other athletes are also expected to make either their season or collegiate debuts at the meet.

The women get things underway at 5 p.m. on a 5k course. This will be the final 5k race of the 2021 campaign for the Texans. Tarleton's women's team is set to compete at the 6k championship distance for the first time this fall at the Arturo Barrios Invitational and again race a 6k at the conference championships, which take place on Oct. 30 in Riverside, California. The men follow around 5:30 p.m. with an 8k race. Tarleton received its first 8k taste this season at the Texas A&M Invitational.

The course, which wraps around Ranger's main campus in Eastland County multiple times, projects as flat and fast. Patches of incline included on both the men's and women's loops are moderate and the terrain is exclusively grass and dirt outside of a pair of short pavement crossings.

Tarleton is the lone Division I program competing on Friday. The meet field features former Lone Star Conference rival West Texas A&M (men) as well as regional foes Dallas Christian, Southwestern Adventist and UNT Dallas.

Live results of the meet are available at DirectAthletics/TFRRS. Visit the cross country schedule page on TarletonSports.com to access links to live results as well a course map.

LAST TIME OUT: TEXAS A&M INVITATIONAL

Tarleton certainly looked the part of a D1 program in its first time racing on Watts Cross Country Course in Bryan-College Station in three years and first time since beginning its transition to NCAA Division I.

Of the 14 athletes who competed, 11 posted collegiate personal records in their respective races while eight placed inside the top-40.

The men finished fourth (126 points) in a 10-team field and ahead of D1 opponents Arkansas-Little Rock, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern and UTSA while the women took sixth place (136 points).

Kevin Baez and Brooke Wendel were the Texans' top performers. Baez finished fourth out of 101 competitors in 24:01.30 and clocked Tarleton's fastest 8k time in more than a decade while Wendel led the women in her Texan debut with a 19th place finish in 18:44.30. Wendel, a freshman, posted the Texans' fastest women's 5k split in three years.

All seven men's competitors – five of whom are freshmen – set 8k personal records. Six athletes broke 26 minutes in the race. On the women's side, Tarleton tallied four sub-20:00 performances and four personal records while the team collectively improved its average 5k pace by eight seconds (19:34)

UP NEXT: ARTURO BARRIOS INVITATIONAL

Tarleton's second trip to Texas A&M offers the program its first chance to see how it measures against half of its conference peers two weeks prior to the WAC Championships. Each of the five remaining conference members in the state of Texas – Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and UTRGV – are attending the meet. Of the 37 teams entered, 34 are D1 programs and six are members of Power Five conferences: Baylor, Louisville, LSU, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

NOTABLE NOTES

BAEZ AMONG THE ALL-TIME GREATS: The junior's effort at Texas A&M marked the top overall finish of his three-year run in Purple and White. He now has two-top five finishes for his Texan career, has finished inside the top-10 in six races and finished sixth-or-better in three of Tarleton's last four meets dating back to the spring 2021 season.
BRAZEAL BESTING RECORDS: Junior Jenna Brazeal delivered a historic effort in the 2020 indoor track and field season. The mid-distance specialist broke Tarleton's indoor records in the 800m (2:18.40) and 1,000m (3:08.50) and won the mile in 5:13.05 at the Texans' final Lone Star Conference Championships appearance. During the truncated spring 2021 cross country season, Brazeal 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 in either of Tarleton's two races.
BAEZ MAKES TARLETON SPORTS HISTORY: 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.
FRESHMEN PHENOMS: Three of the top-five performers on both the men's and women's teams this season are just halfway through their first semester in Stephenville. John Sutton owns Tarleton's second-fastest 8k time this season (24:50.50) after he finished 29th at the Texas A&M Invitational and ran alongside Baez during the early portions of the race. Behind Sutton is Khristian Vastlik, whose 8k personal record of 25:03 ranks third for the men. Fellow newcomer Mason Alexander posted an 8k personal record of 25:31.40 and sits at No. 5 on Tarleton's men's performance list. Not far behind Alexander is Angel Gomez, who finished one spot behind Alexander at Texas A&M with a personal-best time of 25:34.70. Rounding out the men's slate in College Station was Austin Flores, who clocked in at 26:50.50 in his Texan debut. For the women, A duo of freshmen from north Texas are expected to be fixtures on the result sheets for the foreseeable future. Allison Hedrick (Lindsay HS) and Sage Lancaster (Denton Ryan HS) finished third and fourth, respectively, for Tarleton at Texas A&M with times of 19:45 and 19:48. Both athletes set collegiate 5k personal records with their performances. 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.
POWERING PAST PREVIOUS PR'S: Two returners on the women's side debuted in style at UTA. 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 cross country personal record by 1:52 with a time of 20:02.40.
RETURNERS READY TO RACE: Nine athletes who suited up for Tarleton during its spring 2021 season are back this fall. Sophomores Riley McClure and Magaly Lopez competed at both the UIW Invitational and WAC Cross Country Championships. Also returning for another tour of duty at Tarleton are junior Gerardo Cipres and sophomore Jordan Jones.
BROTHERLY LOVE: 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 near the top of Tarleton's men's performance list is his older brother, junior Dominick Vastlik. The elder Vastlik was Tarleton's No. 4 finisher at Texas A&M and surpassed his previous 8k personal record by 1:02 with a time of 25:18.30
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES: Of the 24 athletes listed on Tarleton's combined cross country roster, 13 are in their first year with the program and 11 are freshmen. Among Ponder's newcomers are four standout college transfers. Sophomore Aimee Landers-Wilburn placed 32nd on a 5k course in 20:05.90 in Tarleton's season-opener at the UTA Invitational on Sept. 11. She 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. The Madrid, Spain native made her Tarleton debut at Texas A&M and placed 55th overall in 20:32.10. Senior Vianney Sanchez was a two-time NCAA South Central Regional qualifier in cross country in her four years at Arkansas-Little Rock and is expected to compete for Tarleton in indoor and outdoor track and field this spring. 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.