Big 12 Championships offer tough challenge with eight nationally ranked teams

Christina Munoz seeks third consecutive All-Big 12 performance at conference meet

	Christina Munoz has led A&M women the past two years at the Big 12 meet

Oct. 28, 2009

Columbia, Missouri - Texas A&M men and women will each square off against a set of four nationally ranked teams during the cross country races at the Big 12 Championships held on the morning of Halloween on the University of Missouri's Gustin Golf Course.

Race time is 10 a.m. for the men's race over an 8,000-meter course with the women following at 11 a.m. over a 6,000-meter layout. The top 15 finishers in each race will earn All-Big 12 recognition.

The Aggie men placed fourth a year ago at the Big 12 Championships with a score of 95 points while the A&M women finished 11th with a total of 242 points. It was the best team finish for the Texas A&M men at a conference meet since placing third in three consecutive Big 12 meets from 2001 to 2003. The score of 95 points was the lowest for an A&M men's team, topping a previous best of 104 from 2001.

SENIOR TRIO LEDS A&M MEN

After Joe Sauvageau paced the men's team in Wisconsin, claiming the top Aggie position in 30th place, fellow senior Andrew Montes edged Sauvageau (24:26.25 to 24:26.83) for the top A&M finish in Virginia as the pair placed 24th and 25th. The next senior in line to lead the crew is Mitch Bible, who was just three seconds behind Montes and Sauvageau with a time of 24:29.54 on the Panorama Farms course in Charlottesville, Va.

Bible is the top returning Aggie from last year's Big 12 Championships when he was third on the team and 19th overall as Texas A&M finished fourth in the team standings behind Oklahoma State (26), Colorado (66) and Iowa State (67). Sauvageau finished as the fifth Aggie and placed 39th overall.

Others returning from conference experience in 2008 include Graham Northcutt and Kevin Burnett, who were sixth and seventh on the A&M squad. This Aggies Big 12 team will also have Will Barry, C.J. Brown, James Hodges, and Jimmy Welin.

MUNOZ SEEKS THIRD ALL-BIG 12 HONOR

With a seventh-place finish in the Big 12 meet last season Christina Munoz claimed her second All-Big 12 honor in the conference championship after an 11th-place finish in 2007. Munoz became just the third A&M female runner to place among the top 10 at a Big 12 Championship meet as she matched the seventh-place effort by Melissa Gulli in 2002.

In leading the Aggies the past two years in the conference meet, Munoz joined a select few who have accomplished that feat for Texas A&M - Andrea Bookout (1999, 2001), Melissa Gulli (2000, 2002) and Vanessa Kelly (2003, 2004).

Aggie runners returning from previous conference experience include Sarah Balfour, an All-Big 12 performer in 2007, as well as Amber Weems and Kirsten Brown, who were sixth and eighth on the team in 2008. Newcomers to the conference meet will include Itzel Cetina, Katherine Devlin, Amanda Jenkins, Natosha Rogers and Tara Upshaw.

EIGHT NATIONALLY RANKD TEAMS IN BIG 12

Men's teams from Oklahoma State and Colorado enter the Big 12 meet ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the nation and are two of four conference teams among the top 30 national rankings. Also ranked in the top 30 are Oklahoma (20) and Iowa State (23).

Colorado women top the Big 12 field with a No. 3 ranking followed by Texas Tech (14), Iowa State (19), and Baylor (26).

Texas A&M men are currently ranked second in the South Central Region while the Aggie women are sixth.

STATE FARM LONE STAR CHALLENGE

The first pair of six total points available through cross country as well as the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons will be on the line in Columbia between the Aggies and the Longhorns. A&M has enjoyed a 4-2 edge in points the past two years among the three sports.

Points in cross country between the two schools have been split the past five years with Texas A&M women earning four points and the Longhorn men taking four points. Last season they reversed roles as the Aggie men earned a point along with the Texas women.

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