CU runners voted seventh in LSC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll

For Immediate Release

September 16, 2020

Cameron University Athletics

Kenton Means – Sports Information Director

RICHARDSON, Texas – The Lone Star Conference Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll came out on Wednesday morning and the Cameron women are picked to finish seventh in the upcoming league championship.

In this year’s version of the preseason poll, Cameron came in with 335 total points and had one first place nod. They are chasing the two teams who tied for the top spot in the rankings, Lubbock Christian and West Texas A&M. Both LCU and WT totaled 504 votes with 17 first place votes going to the Lady Chaps and 11 going to the Lady Buffs.

DBU rounded out the top-3 and collected the remaining seven first place selections. Midwestern State and St. Edward’s rounded out the top-5, while Western New Mexico came in just ahead of CU with 348 votes. Oklahoma Christian was just five votes back of the Aggies in eight, with UT Tyler, Texas A&M-Commerce, Texas A&M International, UT Permian Basin, UAFS, Angelo State, and Texas A&M-Kingsville rounding out the poll.

In the first two years of being a program, the CU women have finished sixth and ninth respectively in the conference meet, and this season, they enter the shortened slate picked right in the middle of the pack in seventh. Head Coach Zach Johnson says the goal is to be right there in the mix in 2020 and to finish in the top-6 at the LSC Championship come October.

“Our goal is to improve on our finish at conference last year,” said Johnson about his women’s team expectations. “We finished ninth last season in Silver City and if we can end up in the top-6 in San Angelo (Texas), I will be happy. Right now, we are not where we need to be, but I feel confident we can catch up. We have the talent, but the pandemic definitely affected our offseason training.”

While the time off did not benefit the Aggies, they do have something they have not had before in the program’s short history, a experienced squad. Led by junior Keyanna Patterson and senior Edna Cheptum, Cameron nine upper-classmen on their roster for 2020.

“We have more experience than last year, which helps. Hopefully that experience can offset the lack of preparation during the offseason and our young kids can step up and challenge our top runners.”

As a sophomore, Patterson tallied a trio of top-20 finishes for CU and was one of their top three finishers during the Lone Star Conference Championship. Cheptum battled injuries a year ago, but still recorded an eight place finish at the OBU Invitational and was a top-35 finisher at the league race; she was an all-conference runner in 2018, placing 12th in the conference meet.

“Jessica Parnell has been the most pleasant surprise this fall. She had a great summer and is pushing Keyanna for our top spot right now. Keyanna looks ready to push for All-LSC honors is she keeps progressing and stays focused. Edna is healthy to start the year so she should be ready to compete at a high level come late October. Behind those three, we will be looking for Violet Torres, Alejandra Collier, Vivien Chesire, Nancy Jebet, Serah Timbwol, and Amber Clayton to step up and fill our top-5.”

Cameron begins their shortened fall with the Aggie Duels, which will take place on Sep. 25 in Lawton, Okla. They follow that up with the Ranger Classic on Oct. 9 in Ranger, Texas. CU will then tune-up for the LSC championship at the Blue and Gold Invite on Oct. 16 and then will be right back in San Angelo two weeks later for the LSC Championship on Halloween morning.

Below is the full LSC Preseason Poll:

Rank	Team	1st	Total
1.	Lubbock Christian	17	504
1.	West Texas A&M	11	504
3.	DBU	7	486
4.	Midwestern State		416
5.	St. Edward’s		350
6.	Western New Mexico		348
7.	Cameron	1	335
8.	Oklahoma Christian		330
9.	UT Tyler		224
10.	Texas A&M-Commerce		200
11.	Texas A&M International		170
12.	UT Permian Basin		163
13.	UAFS		111
14.	Angelo State		105
15.	Texas A&M-Kingsville		74