TCU cross country won big at the Texas A&M Invitational last month — men took first in the 8K with a total time of 1:58:52.88, beating Texas A&M by just 0.63 of a second.

But the distance Frogs are not done yet. They are headed to Waco on Friday, Nov. 1, for the 2024 Big 12 Cross Country Championship.

This will be the first cross country conference championship since the Big 12 added Arizona State University (ASU), the University of Arizona, West Virginia University, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Central Florida and the University of Utah.

“The standard of competition in the Big 12 has gone up, and so have our performances,” Stone Burke, a senior management major, said. “We’ve gotten faster and have performed better, but our team culture is really what has made the most impact and set us apart.”

Burke was recognized as a September Big 12 Student-Athlete of the Month.

What to Look Out For

The Men’s 8K puts TCU against the University of Arizona.

The Wildcats took first place in the Men’s 8K at the Highlander Invitational with a time of 2:02:14. TCU took 11th place in the same event the day before, at the Arturo Barrios Invitational with a time of 1:59:57.

“It’s really all about executing on race day,” Burke said.

While they continue to train every day leading up to the competition, their mental focus shifts entirely to the race as their primary stimulus, he said.

Tabitha Ngao, a sophomore health and fitness and kinesiology double-major, is having an exceptional season with three first-place finishes over five meets. She ran 17:30.50 to earn her most recent win at the LA Tech Mook 4 Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Training for conference has been “intense and focused,” Ngao said. “Our team dynamic is strong, and we’re all motivated to support each other and bring home a great result.”

Ngao and Tate Underwood were named Big 12 Cross Country Runners of the Week in the second week of the season.

Underwood, a sophomore kinesiology major, led six TCU men into the top ten at the UTA Gerald Richey Invitational to become the first men’s runner to win this title in program history.