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<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><a name="_Hlk490052374"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – </span></b></a><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">September
1, 2021</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Baylor Cross Country: Friesen, Hodge Lead Bears at Aggie Opener</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Women’s team places third; men’s team finishes fourth</span></i><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">For more information contact: </span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Kellen Coleman, 254-749-6507, </span><span style="color:black"><a href="mailto:Kellen_Coleman@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#954F72">Kellen_Coleman@baylor.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">*COMPLETE RESULTS ATTACHED*<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">WACO, Texas –</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Next up for Baylor cross country is the ACU Invitational Sept. 18 in Abilene, Texas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">For updates on Baylor cross country throughout the season, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">__________________________________</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;color:black"> </span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#154734">Kellen Coleman</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#18481F"> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">|
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Associate Director of Communications</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">O: 254-710-4049 | C: 254-749-6507</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> </span><a href="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="153" height="43" style="width:1.5937in;height:.4479in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D79F7D.CA2C7AC0" alt="/var/folders/pf/02zg9swd0fz7qy7f5nkl4mymsr0bxx/T/com.microsoft.Outlook/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/cidimage004.png@01D50713.9CE40560"></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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