Cross Releases 2016 Competition Schedule
8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
HOUSTON -- Third-year Head Coach Steve Magness and the Houston Cougar Men's and Women's Cross Country teams released the competition schedule for the upcoming 2016 season, the program announced Wednesday.
Houston opens the season with four straight meets in the state of Texas, including the opener in Nacogdoches, Texas, on Friday, Sept. 2, where it competes in the SFA Lumberjack Preview. The women will run in a 2-mile race beginning at 7 p.m., while the men will follow with a 5K. The Cougars will look for a repeat of their 2015 opening weekend, when the men and women swept the HBU Season Opener, and Maddie Brown claimed the individual title for the women.
The following week, the Cougars will return to Houston and head across town to compete in the 41st Annual Rice Invitational on Friday, Sept. 9. The women open competition at 6:15 p.m., with a 4K, and the men run a 6K at 6:45 p.m. The Cougar men and women finished second and third respectively at the 40th edition of the Rice Invitational in 2015, and senior Brian Barraza claimed his first of three victories during the campaign.
Houston wraps the first month of competition with a trip to the Texas A&M Invitational for the second consecutive season, at 9 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 24, in College Station, Texas. At last year's meet, Barraza claimed victory for the second meet in a row en route to helping the men finish seventh, while Brown crossed the line as the women's top finisher for the third consecutive week.
The Cougars return to Houston on Friday, Oct. 7, to compete in the HBU Invitational beginning at 4 p.m., before heading out of state for the final meet of regular-season competition, on Friday, Oct. 14, when the Cougars compete in the Alabama Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The 2016 edition of the American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, Oct. 29, in Cincinnati. The Cougar men will be looking to build on their third-place finish from last season, while the women hope to improve on their ninth-place ranking. The men hope to compete for their first conference title since 2004, while the women aim for their first championship since claiming four consecutive from 1982-85.
Postseason competition resumes two weeks later when the Cougars head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA South Central Regional. Barraza will look to defend his title from the 2015 season, where he became the first Houston distance runner to claim an individual regional championship in school history.
Barraza will also look for a return to the NCAA Cross Country Championships, a feat he accomplished in each of the last two seasons. The top-2 teams from each Regional as well as the top-5 finishers from non-qualifying teams will earn the chance to compete at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.
2016 CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE
Sept. 2 -- SFA Lumberjack Preview -- 7 p.m.
Sept. 9 -- 41st Annual Rice Invitational -- 6:15 p.m.
Sept. 24 -- Texas A&M Invitational -- TBA
Oct. 7 -- HBU Invitational -- 4 p.m.
Oct. 14 -- Alabama Crimson Classic -- 9 a.m.
Oct. 29 -- American Athletic Conference Championships - TBD
Nov. 11 -- NCAA South Central Regional -- 11 a.m.
Nov. 19 -- NCAA Cross Country Championships -- 11 a.m.
ABOUT THE 2016 COUGARS
The 2016 Houston men's cross country team returns 11 runners who saw action for the Cougars in 2015, including four of the five student-athletes who scored at the Regional meet. Led by Barraza, the Cougars landed four athletes in the top-30 at the 2015 American Championships.
All 10 individuals who saw action in 2015 return for the Cougar women in 2016, including Brown who finished as Houston's top competitor in all five of the meets she competed in. The Cougars will also welcome back redshirt senior Selena Sierra, who missed the entire 2015 campaign due to injury.
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