Saturday, October 19
College Station, TX
9:00 AM
Florida Gators
at
Arturo Barrios Invitational
Gators Prepare for Challenging Field at Arturo Barrios Invitational
Friday, October 18, 2019 | Cross Country
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Coming off a successful weekend in Tallahassee last weekend, the Florida men's and women's cross country teams look to pick up the pace in traveling to College Station, Texas for the second annual Arturo Barrios Invitational, hosted by Texas A&M. The Gators look to ride their momentum upon sweeping first-place team finishes last weekend at the FSU Invitatonal, as the women took the crown at last season's inaugural meet, while the men finished 10th among a highly competitive field of teams.
The men's 8k race will begin at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET), followed by the women's 6k race at 9:45 a.m (10:45 a.m. ET) at the Watts Cross Country Course.
The Arturo Barrios Invitational will serve as a slight assessment of how the Gators fare prior to upcoming postseason competition as, among the large field of 32 teams, 18 men's programs are ranked among the top-15 in their respective regions while 17 women's programs are regionally ranked. Florida will get a taste of competition from all over with five regions – Mid-Atlantic, Mountain, South Central, South and West – being represented among the field.
At last season's meet, the Florida women claimed the title behind five top-20 performances and six PRs, including a runner-up finish from Jessica Pascoe and top-10 finish from Elisabeth Bergh (6th). Pascoe, coming off National Athlete of the Week recognition, looks to continue her dominant tear this season in adding her fourth consecutive individual title in four meets. Entering this weekend's 6k race, Pascoe holds the second fastest 6k time this season (20:14.5) among SEC women's runners. Several Gators, such as Payton Capes-Davis, Imogen Barrett, Pamela O'Brien, Maria Fernandez and Madison Morse, recorded collegiate-best performances in last weekend's 5k race and seek to build off the progression.
Freshmen Jackie Addy and Emily Culley will also feature in this weekend's meet at Texas A&M, coming off personal-best performances in the women's 5k race in Tallahassee.
The men took a step forward after last weekend's performances in Tallahassee, as redshirt sophomore Matt Clark has seen consistent improvement this season in finishing as the Gators' top finisher in the past two meets. Clark tallied his first career top-five finish, while adding a PR in the men's 8k race (24:43.0) to help lead Florida to victory last Friday. Colin Schaefer, Trevor Foley, Nick Deal and Blake Lowery also have continually produced for the Gators in interchangeably finishing among Florida's top five.
The Gators will also expect to receive consistent contributions from the likes of Nick Deal, Marshall Dillon, Hugh Brittenham and Matt Bomkamp, as Dillon, Bomkamp and Brittenham enter this Saturday's meet upon season-best performances at FSU.
Among the field, the Middle Tennessee men are nationally ranked No. 17 and are No. 2 in the South Region. Receiving votes in the national top-30 poll are women's teams from Cal Baptist and Texas. South region teams include Florida, ranked No. 10 (men) and No. 6 (women), Middle Tennessee (No. 2 men, No. 7 women) and Tennessee (No. 9 men).
The men's field includes 18 schools from the South Central, including 10 additional ranked programs: Texas A&M (No. 3), Rice (No. 5), McNeese State (No. 8), UT Arlington (No. 9), North Texas (No. 10), Baylor (No. 11), Texas State (No. 12), LSU (No. 13), Abilene Christian (No. 14) and Stephen F. Austin (No. 15).
On the other side, the women's field has 20 schools from the South Central including 12 additional ranked programs: Texas (No. 2), Texas A&M (No. 3), Baylor (No. 6), Rice (No. 7), LSU (No. 8), Stephen F. Austin (No. 9), McNeese State (No. 10), Abilene Christian (No. 11), UTRGV (No. 12), UT Arlington (No. 13), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 14) and SMU (No. 15).
Pittsburgh, with the men No. 8 and women No. 11, represent the Mid-Atlantic region, while Mountain region programs include Idaho State (No. 14 men), Northern Colorado (No. 15 men), New Mexico State and Texas Tech. Schools from the West region include Arizona State (No. 13 men), Cal Baptist (No. 10 men, No. 6 women) and Gonzaga women (No. 11).
Other schools in the field include Incarnate Word, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, TCU, Trinity, Tulane and UTSA.
This weekend's meet will be critical for the Gators in taking the next step forward to consistently competing at a high level, in which they've shown flashes, in preparation for the 2019 SEC Championships in Lexington, Ky. on Friday, Nov. 1.
Arturo Barrios Invitational Meet Information:
The men's 8k race will begin at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. ET), followed by the women's 6k race at 9:45 a.m (10:45 a.m. ET) at the Watts Cross Country Course.
The Arturo Barrios Invitational will serve as a slight assessment of how the Gators fare prior to upcoming postseason competition as, among the large field of 32 teams, 18 men's programs are ranked among the top-15 in their respective regions while 17 women's programs are regionally ranked. Florida will get a taste of competition from all over with five regions – Mid-Atlantic, Mountain, South Central, South and West – being represented among the field.
At last season's meet, the Florida women claimed the title behind five top-20 performances and six PRs, including a runner-up finish from Jessica Pascoe and top-10 finish from Elisabeth Bergh (6th). Pascoe, coming off National Athlete of the Week recognition, looks to continue her dominant tear this season in adding her fourth consecutive individual title in four meets. Entering this weekend's 6k race, Pascoe holds the second fastest 6k time this season (20:14.5) among SEC women's runners. Several Gators, such as Payton Capes-Davis, Imogen Barrett, Pamela O'Brien, Maria Fernandez and Madison Morse, recorded collegiate-best performances in last weekend's 5k race and seek to build off the progression.
Freshmen Jackie Addy and Emily Culley will also feature in this weekend's meet at Texas A&M, coming off personal-best performances in the women's 5k race in Tallahassee.
The men took a step forward after last weekend's performances in Tallahassee, as redshirt sophomore Matt Clark has seen consistent improvement this season in finishing as the Gators' top finisher in the past two meets. Clark tallied his first career top-five finish, while adding a PR in the men's 8k race (24:43.0) to help lead Florida to victory last Friday. Colin Schaefer, Trevor Foley, Nick Deal and Blake Lowery also have continually produced for the Gators in interchangeably finishing among Florida's top five.
The Gators will also expect to receive consistent contributions from the likes of Nick Deal, Marshall Dillon, Hugh Brittenham and Matt Bomkamp, as Dillon, Bomkamp and Brittenham enter this Saturday's meet upon season-best performances at FSU.
Among the field, the Middle Tennessee men are nationally ranked No. 17 and are No. 2 in the South Region. Receiving votes in the national top-30 poll are women's teams from Cal Baptist and Texas. South region teams include Florida, ranked No. 10 (men) and No. 6 (women), Middle Tennessee (No. 2 men, No. 7 women) and Tennessee (No. 9 men).
The men's field includes 18 schools from the South Central, including 10 additional ranked programs: Texas A&M (No. 3), Rice (No. 5), McNeese State (No. 8), UT Arlington (No. 9), North Texas (No. 10), Baylor (No. 11), Texas State (No. 12), LSU (No. 13), Abilene Christian (No. 14) and Stephen F. Austin (No. 15).
On the other side, the women's field has 20 schools from the South Central including 12 additional ranked programs: Texas (No. 2), Texas A&M (No. 3), Baylor (No. 6), Rice (No. 7), LSU (No. 8), Stephen F. Austin (No. 9), McNeese State (No. 10), Abilene Christian (No. 11), UTRGV (No. 12), UT Arlington (No. 13), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 14) and SMU (No. 15).
Pittsburgh, with the men No. 8 and women No. 11, represent the Mid-Atlantic region, while Mountain region programs include Idaho State (No. 14 men), Northern Colorado (No. 15 men), New Mexico State and Texas Tech. Schools from the West region include Arizona State (No. 13 men), Cal Baptist (No. 10 men, No. 6 women) and Gonzaga women (No. 11).
Other schools in the field include Incarnate Word, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, TCU, Trinity, Tulane and UTSA.
This weekend's meet will be critical for the Gators in taking the next step forward to consistently competing at a high level, in which they've shown flashes, in preparation for the 2019 SEC Championships in Lexington, Ky. on Friday, Nov. 1.
Arturo Barrios Invitational Meet Information:
- Live Results: Flash Results
- Venue: Watts Cross Country Course
- Men's 8k Race: 9:00 a.m.
- Women's 5k Race: 9:45 a.m.
- Teams Competing: Texas A&M, Abilene Christian, Arizona State, Baylor, Cal Baptist, Florida, Gonzaga (W), Idaho State, Incarnate Word, Louisiana Tech, LSU, McNeese State, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, North Texas, Northern Colorado, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Rice, Sam Houston, SMU, Stephen F. Austin, TCU, Tennessee (M), Texas (W), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Texas Tech, Trinity, Tulane, UTRGV, UTSA
- Men Competing: Matt Bomkamp, Hugh Brittenham, Matt Clark, Nick Deal, Marshall Dillon, Trevor Foley, Blake Lowery, Colin Schaefer
- Women Competing: Jackie Addy, Imogen Barrett, Payton Capes-Davis, Emily Culley, Maria Fernandez, Madison Morse, Pamela O'Brien, Jessica Pascoe
Players Mentioned
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