Baylor Cross Country: Friesen, Hodge Lead Bears at Aggie Opener

[Coleman, Kellen]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – September 1, 2021


Baylor Cross Country: Friesen, Hodge Lead Bears at Aggie Opener
Women’s team places third; men’s team finishes fourth

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

*COMPLETE RESULTS ATTACHED*

WACO, Texas – Ellie Friesen placed fourth in the women’s 4.1K and Ryan Hodge took fifth in the men’s 5K to lead Baylor cross country Wednesday night at the Aggie Opener at Watts Cross Country Course in College Station.

Friesen clocked a time of 14:29.7 as the women’s team placed third with 81 points. Hayden Gold finished 12th (14.53.0), Celia Holmes took 19th (15:10.4), Devon Vopni placed 23rd (15:16.8) and Catherine Urbani finished 25th (15:19.6).

“I thought Ellie did a great job,” head cross country coach David Barnett said. “It was her first race, and you never know what to expect your first time around. I thought she made the most of the opportunity and she looked really good. She competed really well and had a good time on a good course.

“I thought the freshmen did really well. We had a lot of true freshmen that really competed well to the best of their abilities. We still haven’t put together our whole top five yet. We still have a couple more like Lily Jacobs that are training well, and I think when we put together our whole team when it matters we’ll have a really good result.”

Hodge led the men’s team to a fourth-place finish with his time of 15:47.0. Drew Snyder (10th - 16:04.2), Philip Roxas (19th - 16:25.1), Alec Atteberry (50th - 17:42.0) and Beau Thomason (56th - 17:54.0) helped the Bears finish with 105 points.

“I thought Ryan did awesome,” Barnett said. “There was a 45-minute weather delay and then they changed the race distance for the men from 6K to 5K. I thought the guys handled that change really well. Ryan did really well. He stuck his nose in there and competed, and beat a lot of good people. I thought Andrew Snyder behind him as a true freshman was super strong. We still have some men that are training right now that when we plug them in we’re going to have a competitive top five.”

Next up for Baylor cross country is the ACU Invitational Sept. 18 in Abilene, Texas.

“It’s important that this race we really got after it, because we’re going to be racing the full race distances at ACU,” Barnett said. “The women will do the 6,000 and the men will do the 8,000, and that will be our championship distances at Big 12. It will be a good opportunity to step up to the next thing and see where we stand. I’m looking forward to it. I think some of the folks are going to have a really strong result.”

For updates on Baylor cross country throughout the season, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


__________________________________

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

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