XC Led by Andrews-Paul, Sugg at Notre Dame Invitational

Friday, September 28

South Bend, Ind.

12:00 P.M. CT

Baylor

Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational

XC Led by Andrews-Paul, Sugg at Notre Dame Invitational

9/28/2018 7:06:00 PM | Cross Country

Complete Results

Men’s team places 11th; women’s team finishes in 17th place.

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Competing for the first time in three weeks, the Baylor women's cross country team placed 17th while the men's team finished 11th Friday afternoon at the Joe Piane Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind.

"We just need to do better all around," associate head coach Jon Capron said. "If you're a little off, it shows very quickly in a race of this caliber. It just wasn't our day today."

Alison Andrews-Paul led the way for Baylor, recording a 5,000-meter time of 17:58.5 to place 63rd individually. Brooke Gilmore (18:11.4), Sarah Antrich (18:24.3), Celia Holmes (18:29.1) and Aaliyah Miller (18:36.8) rounded out the scoring for the Bears.

"It was a really strong field," Capron said. "It wasn't for lack of effort. It just wasn't in the legs today. We should've been up a little higher in the front from the get-go, and it just didn't happen. There are some positives to take away. We had a couple people run faster than they have before, just not fast enough."

On the men's side, sophomore TJ Sugg earned a top-20 finish with a 5-mile time of 25:13.66 to lead the Bears. Matt Henderson (25:56.82), Connor Laktasic (26:10.07), Jeremy Meadows (26:17.52) and Cal Johnston (26:25.60) were the other scoring runners for Baylor.

"A couple of those guys, that was their first 8K ever," Capron said. "J.B. (Sandlund) and Cal, that was the first time they've ever raced that distance. It's hard to be too critical if it's their first experience. TJ closed really well the second half of that race. He probably didn't assert himself in the front part as much as he should have to where he was racing the right people. The back half of the race was pretty good for TJ, but still not as fast as it should have been."

Next up for the women's team is Pre-Nationals Oct. 13 in Madison, Wis., while the men's team is headed to College Station for the Arturo Barrios Invitational the same day.

"Just to get better," Capron said on the mindset headed into the next meets. "The girls are going to have their work cut out for them. That's probably a deeper field than this one was. If we don't step it up a little bit, it's going to be tough. We just need to get better from top to bottom.

"On the guys side, they need to be comfortable with where they're racing and they need to just compete. It was there a little bit, but I need them to get in there and get a little tougher. I need to figure out, on me, how to line up the workouts. We have to work out a little quicker and a little faster, and I have to figure out how to squeeze a little bit more out of them."

For updates on Baylor's cross country team, follow @BaylorTrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

HIGHLIGHTS

TJ Sugg finished in 20th place for Baylor
Alison Andrews-Paul, Brooke Gilmore, Sarah Antrich, and Celia Holmes all improved on their season-best 5K times.

STAT OF THE MEET
17:58.5 – A career-best 5K time for Alison Andrews-Paul

TOP QUOTE
"There are some positives to take away. We had a couple people run faster than they have before, just not fast enough." – associate head coach Jon Capron

WHAT'S NEXT
The Baylor cross country teams will both be in action on Oct. 13, with the women's team competing at Pre-Nationals in Madison, Wis., and the men's team running in the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station.