Baylor junior Ruth Kimeli heads into Friday morning’s NCAA South Central Regional at Texas A&M’s Watts Cross Country Course with another national meet in sight.
Kimeli is chasing her fifth overall NCAA Championship appearance and her third straight trip to cross country nationals. The Baylor standout, who became the program’s first All-Big 12 cross country runner in nine years, placed 13th at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships two weeks ago in Stillwater, Okla. She also knows this course well: two years ago at Texas A&M, she finished fourth at the regional to punch her ticket to nationals, then backed it up with an eighth-place finish last year in Fayetteville, Ark.
The women’s 6,000-meter race starts at 9 a.m., with the men’s 10K to follow at 10 a.m.
Baylor’s women enter the regional ranked 13th in the region and will be represented by seniors Khadija Ennasri, Mackenize Browne and Rosanna Pugh, junior Ella Perry and sophomores Evanna Jacobsen and Rickeisha Simms. Only the top two teams will earn automatic NCAA Championship berths, leaving the Bears with a difficult path to qualify as a team.
“Looking forward to racing the regional championship at Texas A&M this weekend,” Baylor coach David Barnett said. “It's a great opportunity to prove ourselves as a team and give a few individuals an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships next weekend.”
That individual route looks like Baylor’s best shot. Kimeli would be a strong candidate for one of the 20 national at-large spots for the NCAA Championships, which are set for next Saturday, Nov. 21, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Kimeli’s national résumé already includes a run at last year’s NCAA Cross Country Championship, where she was in All-America contention at the halfway point before fading in the second loop of the Gans Creek Course and finishing 112th in 20:03. She also picked up second-team All-America honors in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, taking 15th in 32:44.13.
Ennasri, a transfer from Eastern Kentucky, has also shown she can contribute quickly. In her Baylor debut at the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., she finished 14th in the 5K with a time of 16:52.3.
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BYUs long-standing agreement not to play games on Sunday makes the situation even tighter, because it narrows the window for any backup plan if the Bears are delayed. Baylor is not alone in dealing with the fallout, with Arizona State and UCF among the other programs facing similar headaches, but this one has a particularly awkward setup because of the games location and the limited flexibility around the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Heads To BYU With New Uncertainty Around A Crucial Big 12 Test
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The timing change adds another wrinkle to a matchup Baylor already needed to navigate carefully in a Big 12 race that leaves little margin for error. Kansas at West Virginia, Arizona State at UCF and Utah at Arizona were also affected, while Kansas State at TCU remained set for 1 p.m. CT pending further updates. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Is About To Give Texas An Early Reality Check
Sean Miller knows exactly why this one matters. Before Big 12 play even settles in, Texas is getting a nonconference test against Baylor, a game that should tell a lot about where the Longhorns stand and what kind of team they are becoming. Early-season matchups like this are where identities start to harden, and Baylor brings the kind of profile that can expose a team quickly, with Scott Drews group built around rebounding and pressure defense.
For Texas, the stakes go beyond the usual November measuring stick. Davis Punch pointed to the game as a chance to answer for the preseason scrimmage loss to St. Johns, and that makes this trip feel like more than just another step in the schedule. Baylor has a way of making opponents work for every possession, and if Texas wants to leave with momentum, it will have to show it can handle that physical edge from the opening tip. [Read more 🡒]