No. 1 Lady Texans, No. 10 Texans ready to run well at NJCAA Championships

LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Texan and Lady Texan cross country teams are primed and ready to perform at the 2011 NJCAA cross country championships, according to head coach Chris Beene. The meet will be hosted by New Mexico Junior College and contested at Ocotillo Golf Course in Hobbs, N.M.

The Lady Texans made a huge leap in the latest NJCAA polls, jumping from No. 6 to No. 1 after their performance at the Region 5 Championships in Snyder on October 29. Beene does not believe this ranking will faze his team.

"They know that has happened," said Beene. "We've known our girls team has been pretty good all year and with Natoya Goule getting ready for the Olympic Games we have not run her in every one of our meets that we have gone to. When your No. 1 girl is not running every week the rankings kind of get jumbled up.

"At regionals we finally put the whole group together and that's why we jumped up. I think our girls are really excited and in their mind they have always known they had a chance to win."

Beene called this year's Lady Texan squad the best he has ever had.

His Texan squad slipped slightly in the rankings from No. 8 to No. 10, but Beene feels his squad is a top-4 team if they run to their capabilities.

Both the Texans and Lady Texans have athletes vying for the individual titles as well inKemoy Campbell for the SPC men and Natoya Goule and Darroneshia Lott for the women.

"Natoya and Darroneshia, that's going to be an interesting battle," Beene said. "Kemoy is definitely, I would think, the favorite. I think they are confident and know what is expected of them."

The gun for the women's race is scheduled to sound at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, while the men will run at 11 a.m.