Texas men’s cross country opens season with plans to return to NCAA Championships

After falling short of nationals last season, the cross-country team will have to learn to run together. They’re looking to start this season with a new sense of brotherhood at the Floyd Farms Invitational on Friday.

“A lot of times, the sport is viewed as an individual sport, but the most special teams are built with that teammate mentality at the forefront,” assistant coach Sarah Smith said.

Smith believes the returning runners are stronger and better prepared.

“Having been with them for a year now directly and watching them develop has been proving that they’re in a much better place than they were last fall,” Smith said. “Everybody’s better than they were a year ago.”

Sophomore Aidan Torres also noted a difference between this year and last. He said last year’s team included good runners but struggled with problems on and off the course. This fall, the Longhorns will look to help each other work toward their ultimate goal.

“This year, we got a lot of new sets of faces,” Torres said. “We got a lot of fast guys, and we got a lot of dedicated guys — we could already just see it in practice. The difference is extremely clear.”

Texas spent the summer training through long runs, tempo workouts and increased mileage.

However, Torres believes the team’s greatest improvement has been learning how to work together during difficult workouts and races.

“Cross country is a very individual sport,” Torres said. “It’s very easy to get self-centered and kind of just run for yourself. … I think the biggest thing that we’ve all improved on is team running and working with each other.”

Along with camaraderie, Smith instilled toughness in her runners throughout summer training.

“There’s going to be days that you feel great and you can lead the way, and there’s going to be days where you’ve got to get pulled along,” Smith said. “But everybody’s committed to how it needs to be done.”

The arrival of Kenyan distance runner Dennis Kipkogei could also raise the team’s bar. Smith described Kipkogei as an intelligent and methodical athlete who approaches training, academics and relationships with the same attention to detail.

“He just does everything at a very high level,” Smith said. “I would say that’s the same way he’s been committed to getting to know the guys and how he operates day to day in practice — just a very high-level individual all around.”

With a strong group of returning runners, Kipkogei and a fast freshman class, Texas believes it can perform better than expected.

Torres disagreed with the Longhorns’ No. 5 preseason ranking in the South Central Region.

“We don’t really agree with being ranked fifth in the region,” Torres said. “I like an underdog. I think that it just gives us room to improve and to surprise people.”

Overreaching the NCAA championships, Torres said success will depend on whether each runner finishes knowing he gave everything for his teammates.

“There are a lot of good teams in the NCAA, and I think one thing that definitely separates us from them is how close we are to each other,” Torres said. “It’s kind of hard to let one guy drop when we all care about each other so much.”

Torres and his teammates now hope that camaraderie could be enough to land them a spot on the starting line for the NCAA championship on Nov. 21.

“I hope they understand that whatever happened in the past years, we’re a new team,” Torres said. “We don’t dwell in the past. We’re just excited to show them what we have this year.”

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