CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Opening the new year at home, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's cross country teams will get the 2024 season underway by hosting the 2024 Opener at the Seashore Friday morning.
The Islanders will welcome SMU and UTRGV to the National Seashore for the first meet of the year being ran on the beach. The men will start it off with a 6000m race at 7:30 a.m. following by the women's 4000m race at 8 a.m.
"I have loved the energy of this group during our preseason," said head coach
Bryan Jackson, who is entering his second year at the helm. "We are excited to kick off the season and see how this group competes. We have a unique opening race planned on the beach, but we're still looking to kick off the season right by building great competitive habits!"
Coach Jackson is coming off his first year heading the Islanders where he found immediate success. He led the men to their first-ever Southland Conference championship, winning by a narrow one point, to be named the 2023 SLC Coach of the Year.
From that championship squad, the men notably return individual champion
Mathayo Kiptoo Bundotich who paced the way with a first-place finish after clocking a 24:17.6 time in the 8k. Junior
Enock Kimutai returns after joining Bundotich in the top-10 at the meet with senior
Rogerio Gomez also returning after being the all-important fifth finisher for the squad.
The women have brought back sophomores
Kate Brockman and
Faith Ramos who finished in the top-25 at last year's SLC Championships but have also reloaded with seven newcomers on this year's women's team.
Results from the race will be posted
here.
Following the opening meet, the Islanders will get back in action on Sept. 13 at Rice. Heading north to Indiana, the teams will compete in Notre Dame's Joe Paine Invite on Oct. 4 before wrapping up the regular season on Oct. 18 at Texas A&M's Arturo Barrios Invite. The Southland Conference Championships are set for Nov. 1 and will be hosted by New Orleans.
#ShakasUp
