Season Preview: Owls Looking to Exceed Expectations

HOUSTON - After finishing third in the conference meet in 2018, the men's cross country team has been predicted to finish fourth in the C-USA preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Middle Tennessee, the 2017 champions, received seven of the 11 first-place votes to secure the top spot, followed by Charlotte in second. The defending champs, North Texas, slotted in one spot ahead of the Owls.

The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) also recently announced their regional rankings and they, too, have the Owls in fourth. However, this ranking comprises all teams in the South Central Region – clearly a much loftier ranking for Rice. The USTFCCCA pollsters tab Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M as the only teams in the region – on paper – better than the Owls.

Finishing ahead of predictions, however, is something which Rice head coach Jon Warren's squad is capable. Projected to finished 11th at last year's NCAA regionals, the Owls came in fourth, just six points behind third-place Texas A&M and ahead of all their C-USA brethren.

Warren will have a deep squad returning from last year, with five of his top six runners from that regionals finish returning.

"The most exciting thing to me going from last year to this year is how tight the team finishes," Warren said. "The spread at the NCAA Regional meet in 2018, place wise, was 19:41 for the top five and 19:47 for the top six. Timewise that spread was 59 seconds from number one to number five and only 65 seconds from one to six. We are returning five of that top six. Granted, the person that has to be replaced, Clay Musial, was our number two man and, along with Hociel Landa who was an all-region performer last year."

As noted, Warren will look to junior Landa to help lead the way at the point of the arrow for the Owls. A two-time top-10 finisher at the C-USA XC championships, Landa also scored All-Regional honors in 2018 with his 19th place finish at the NCAA South Central Regionals. The 2018 USA Juniors national champion at 10,000 meters sports a 29:56 personal record over that distance on the track.

Another junior, Matthew Murray, looks to carry over a solid finish from his 2018 cross country campaign to the upcoming season. The Pearland, Texas, native narrowly missed out on a top-25 finish at the NCAA regionals and should be among the top scorers for the team this fall after redshirting during the outdoor track season last spring. One of the top-10 all-time milers in Rice history, Murray has also proven himself against some of the top runners in the conference after he finished third in the metric mile at the conference outdoor championships last year and advanced to the regional meet in that same event. More recently, Murray was crowned world champion of the 20-24 age group at the International Triathlon Union Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland. He covered the 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike and 10K run course in two hours, two minutes and 10 seconds, winning by nearly one minute. He had the fastest run split in his age group by more than 1:30 minutes.

A third junior, Alex Topini, and senior Adolfo Carvalho, round out the returning scorers from the 2018 regional meet. Topini improved 11 slots from his freshman season to his sophomore year at the C-USA championships, finishing 13th in 2018. Continued improvement during this season could put him in the running for a top-10 finish at conference, adding yet another potential low stick for the Owls. Carvalho, one of just two seniors on the squad, has back-to-back top-25 finishes at conference, and has been one of the more consistent performers for the Owls over the past couple of years.

Other returners who are looking to break into the scoring five include sophomore Andrew Abikhaled and Connor Meaux. As a freshman last year, Abikhaled scored at the Arturo Barrios Invitational and was a member of both the conference championships and regional squads where he finished where he finished in 46th place. Meaux brings additional experience to the team, as the senior had a 24th-place showing at the 2015 conference meet on his resume.

Ace Castillo, a two-time state runner-up in cross country for Tuloso-Midway, is a runner that Warren also feels will be a contributor this fall. Castillo has a year of collegiate training after redshirting during his freshman season last year.

Warren is also high on true freshman, Travis Dowd (Austin, TX/St. Stephens HS), who was the SPC cross country state champion one year ago and also has a 3200 meters PR of 9:13 to his name.

"I am looking forward to seeing what that experienced top five can do and to see if the others, namely Connor, Ace and Travis, can add to this strength," said Warren.

A trio of runners, Elliot Metcalf (Sydney, Australia/Sydney Grammar School), Ronen Oosthuizen (Rustenburg, South Africa/Bergsig Academy) and Gerardo Torres (Madrid, Spain/International College Spain) join the team with international pedigrees and plenty of footspeed. Metcalf, who sports a 1500 PR of 3:49.51 in the 1500 meters, finished third at the Australian Under 19 XC Championships. Oosthuizen was the No. 2 ranked youth 1500m runner in South Africa in 2017, while Torres was the runner-up in the Madrid Under 20 Championships 1500 meters in 2018. All three athletes will redshirt this fall and will look to make their impact in 2020.

The Owls will kick their season off by hosting the 44th annual Rice Invitational, set on the university campus on Friday, September 13. The women start at 6:15 p.m. and the men follow at 6:45 p.m. The men will look to win their third straight team title at their home meet.

-RiceOwls.com-

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