After a late travel hiccup, Baylor’s cross country teams are headed somewhere different than planned.
Instead of Terre Haute, Ind., the Bears will race Saturday at the 38th annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at Arkansas’ Agri Park in Fayetteville. The move comes after a flight cancellation forced the switch, and Baylor now lands in a loaded regional meet that features Arkansas, Texas, North Texas, UTA, Tulsa and Mississippi State.
The men get things rolling first in the McDonnell Memorial 8K at 10:25 a.m., followed by the women’s Harter’s Habanero 5K at 11 a.m.
On the men’s side, Baylor will field a full team for just the second time this season. Senior Straton Miller, juniors Jack Sterrett and Caden Biltz, and freshmen Caleb Larsen and Matthew King make up the lineup.
Sterrett finished 10th at the Aggie Opener, while Larsen and King were Baylor’s top runners at the Texas A&M Invitational. King placed 36th in that 8K with a time of 25:35.8.
The women will also have a notable new face in the mix. Senior transfer Khadijah Ennasri, who came over from Eastern Kentucky, is set to make her Baylor debut alongside senior Mackenize Browne, juniors Ruth Kimeli and Ella Perry, and sophomores Rachel Haws, Eva Jacobsen and Rickeisha Simms.
Kimeli gave Baylor a strong lift in the team’s most recent meet, finishing ninth with a career-best 5K time of 16:18.8 in the Southern Showcase two weeks ago in Huntsville, Ala. That effort helped the BU women place 12th out of 31 teams.
Baylor’s regular season wraps up back in College Station at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Oct. 16, before the Big 12 Championship arrives on Oct. 31 in Stillwater, Okla.
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