Aggie men picked third in LSC Preseason Poll Work x

For Immediate Release

September 15, 2020

Cameron University Athletics

Kenton Means – Sports Information Director

RICHARDSON, Texas – The Cameron men’s cross country team was picked to finish third place in the Lone Star Conference Championship after finishing in that spot the past two seasons.

Heading into the 2020 season, many things will be different for the CU runners, including a shortened season that will see them run in just four races, including the LSC Championship. Another thing that is uncommon is that there will be no South Central Regional or NCAA DII Championships as those were canceled back in August.

Cameron will also be without three key contributors from last year’s squad: James Majenge, Steffen Riestenpatt, and Celso Ramirez. Majenge was the 2018 LSC individual champion and was an All-American in 2019. Despite the loss of their pacer, CU head coach Zach Johnson said the expectations for his team remains the same.

“The expectation is that we will fight to improve on our third place finish at the LSC meet,” said Johnson. “West Texas is the favorite, but we are in the mix with a few other teams for the second spot. We don’t have a front-runner like James (Majenge), so we need our top-5 to finish closer to the front to make up for that time.”

The returning league champions, West Texas A&M, is in fact the front-runner this season, as they were picked first in the preseason poll, collecting 454 total votes and 29 first place nods. Lubbock Christian was the only other school to receive first place votes with four, as they were voted to finish second.

Despite no first place nods, the Aggies came in just 17 votes shy of LCU for second place. Behind CU, Oklahoma Christian and Western New Mexico rounded out the top-5. That group was followed by the remaining nine teams that are competing this fall, all of which have been dealing with different obstacles when it comes to training.

“The big difference for us this season is that much more of the student-athletes preparation has been outside of team practice. Some of our runners did a great job on their own this summer training, but some are still trying to place catch-up. That will play more of a factor than the shortened fall schedule, but we will be ready October 31st (the date of the LSC Championship).”

Johnson has a strong group of runners returning, even with the three key losses. Senior Eduardo Gutierrez and junior Loic Rossignaud came on strong late last fall, and their coach thinks they have the ability to lead them to a strong performance this year.

“Eddie (Gutierrez) and Loic (Rossignaud) have looked like All-LSC type athletes during training and we expect big things from them. Nino Heluin, Chris Dunn, Saulo Yoel, Clement Carre, and Dereck Adames are running well, and we will need them to stay close to those first two guys to reach our goals this fall.”

Cameron has just four races on the schedule for 2020. They will kick things off with the annual Aggie Duels on Sep. 25, which will take place here in Lawton, Okla. They will then compete in the East Texas Shootout on Oct. 2 in Commerce, Texas, before heading to San Angelo, Texas for a preview of the LSC meet at the Blue and Gold Invite on Oct. 16. It all culminates with the LSC Championship, back in San Angelo, on Halloween morning, Oct. 31.

Below is the full LSC Preseason Poll:

Rank	Team	1st	Total
1.	West Texas A&M	29	454
2.	Lubbock Christian	4	391
3.	*Cameron*		*374*
4.	Oklahoma Christian		359
5.	Western New Mexico		282
6.	Texas A&M-Commerce		275
7.	St. Edward’s		274
8.	DBU		273
9.	Texas A&M International		205
10.	UT Tyler		182
11.	UT Permian Basin		155
12.	Angelo State		111
13.	UAFS		76
14.	Texas A&M-Kingsville		54