Aug. 29, 2007
WACO, Texas - The Baylor cross country teams will open the 2007 season when the Bears host the Baylor Twilight Invitational at the Baylor Intramural Fields on Friday, Aug. 31, at 6:30 p.m. Nine women's and men's teams will compete in four and six kilometer races, respectively.
"We are really excited to get the season going," said head coach Todd Harbour. "We are changing up our home meet this season. In the past we have run a relay style race, but this season we are switching to a more traditional race. I think that this will be a good test for our runners."
The Lady Bears return eight letterwinners off their 2006 team that finished second in the region meet and 29th at the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Nichole Jones (Spring, Texas) will pace the Lady Bears in 2007, as she led the team with a 66th-place finish at the national meet. Jones earned six top-20 finishes as a freshman. Senior Lyndsy Bedell (Plano, Texas) will also be a top runner for the Lady Bears. Bedell placed 110th at the NCAA Championships, and also recorded five top-20 finishes, including 17th at the NCAA South Central Region meet to earn all-region honors.
The Baylor men's team returns five runners from last season, but will need to replace a core of seniors that led the Bears to a seventh place finish at the region meet in 2006. Jacob Jones (Willis, Texas) will be among the top runners for the Bears. In 2006, Jones recorded two second-place finishes, and is Baylor's top returner from the Big 12 Championships, placing 60th at the conference meet. Ben Haby (Corpus Christi, Texas) is looking to return to form after missing the 2007 outdoor track season due to injury. Haby finished sixth overall at the North Texas Invitational and placed 47th at the NCAA South Central Regional.
Baylor welcomes men's and women's cross country teams from Dallas Baptist, Houston, Lamar, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Lutheran and Texas-Tyler, as well as the women's team from SMU and the men's team from Texas.
"This will be a good opener for all the teams," said Harbour. "Everyone needs an early meet to get a race under their belts and get some good times. The competition should be really tough, especially on the women's side as Baylor, Texas A&M and Lamar are ranked number two, three and four in the region."
Results will be posted on BaylorBears.com on Friday evening. Baylor returns to action on September 8 as the women's team travels to participate in the BYU Autumn Classic.
