Baylor Cross Country Set to Host Bear Twilight Invitational

Wed Aug 28 15:41:01 CDT 2019

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – August 28, 2019

Baylor Cross Country Set to Host Bear Twilight Invitational
Season opener will take place at the HOT Soccer Complex for the ninth consecutive year.

For more information contact: Kellen Coleman, 254-749-6507, Kellen_Coleman at baylor.edu<mailto:Kellen_Coleman at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor cross country will open the 2019 campaign by hosting the Bear Twilight Invitational Friday at 7 p.m. CT at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex.

“I’m ready to see them work from a competitive standpoint,” associate head coach Jon Capron said. “They’ve done a good job at practice, but we’ve only done so much. It’s kind of exciting to see the growth. A lot of these guys are pretty ready to go. We won’t know until they’re at a full-out race. We’ve been holding them back in a lot of the practices to make sure we get the volume we need per workout, so it will be fun to see how fast they can go.”

The Baylor women’s team enters the year ranked sixth in the South Central Region preseason rankings, returning several experienced runners including Sarah Antrich, Lindsay Walton, Celia Holmes and Gabby Satterlee.

“On the ladies’ side, we’re just looking for further growth,” Capron said. “It’s been exciting to watch some of these girls that maybe didn’t see an opening previously, see that opening and say ‘You know what, I can do this,’ and really step up.

“You think of somebody like Lindsay Walton who has been there, ready to go. Now that she sees that she has a chance to not just be on the team, but help lead this team and step into that role, it’s really cool to see. Somebody like Celia who has a year under her belt now and kind of knows what she’s up against. She did a great job her freshman year, but I expect the same or more this year. And a girl like Haley (Everroad), who made big strides last year and got to go to the conference meet and did pretty well but knows she’s only just beginning to hit her stride.”

On the men’s side, the Bears look to battle for a spot in the week one regional rankings set to be released on Sept. 16. Connor Laktasic, TJ Sugg, Jeremy Meadows, and Matt Henderson return to lead a talented group looking to step up in 2019.

“The most exciting part on the guys’ side is the young depth I have,” Capron said. “The fact that I’m going to get four freshmen - we’re waiting on Jake (Merrell) still - but having Alec (Atteberry) as a freshman who has a year under his belt, having Ryan Hodge who is in great shape with a year under his belt, and getting Cal (Johnston) back. We’ll get his freshman year completely back. So having those guys with experience but yet still being freshmen and then you add the actual true freshmen with Carson Yarbrough and Kade Hulett, I think that’s going to be a training group of six guys that could be good going forward for a while.”

Competing against the Bears will be Texas, TCU, and UTA as well as SMU in the women’s race only. The women’s 4,000-meter race will get things started at 7 p.m. CT, and the men’s 6,000-meter race will follow immediately after.

“This is just the starter,” Capron said. “Everyone who is coming to the meet is in it for the same thing. You have to have a meet to start your practices. We may not see full squads from all of these teams, but we may. It’s always fun to mix it up whether it’s their full squad or some of their full squad, their best guys or if they’re missing a couple guys. There’s enough competition for most of these teams top to bottom at this meet, especially given the conditions. It’s going to be hot again. It’ll be a nice chance for everybody to test their legs in transitioning from summer into true season training.”

Full results can be found on BaylorBears.com after the race. For updates on Baylor's cross country team, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Kellen Coleman | Associate Director of Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-4049 | C: 254-749-6507

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