University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Get NCAA Preview At Pre-Nationals
October 10, 2007 | Cross Country
The Tennessee men???s cross country team gets a look at the course that will host the NCAA Championship later this season as it travels to Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend for the 8K ISU Pre-Nationals on Saturday.
???The Indiana State Pre-Nationals is the final race heading into the championship portion of the season,??????head coach George Watts said. ???As the site of the NCAA???Championship in November, many of the top-25 teams in the country will be in Terre Haute to get a look at the course. With such a large number of schools competing, there will be two evenly-divided races. We will likely run against some SEC and South Regional teams. We will set our individual and team goals with the emphasis on having our best race of the season heading into the SEC Championship.???
Junior Denton Jones returns to the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center as the only Vol who scored in last year???s race after Tennessee lost the other four scorers to graduation. Jones, who has scored in every race this season, led the team at this year???s season-opening 8K???Covered Bridge Open and finished fifth on the team at last year???s Pre-Nationals.
Recently-named captains Yarrick Kincaid and Matt Piccarello, as well as sophomore Chris Rapp, earned experience on this course during last year???s race. Piccarello finished sixth on the team while Kincaid and Rapp competed in the open race. Rapp was the fifth Vol across the finish line during the 8K???Greater Louisville Classic two weeks ago to score for the first time in his UT career.
Junior Andrew Press gets his first chance on the Terre Haute course and looks to lead the Vols for the third straight meet. The transfer from William & Mary finished second on the team in the season???s first race and has been Tennessee???s top finisher in the last two races, including the 8K???UT Invitational when he recorded the third-fastest time by a Vol on Tennessee???s home course.
Junior Steve Tobin and freshman Michael Spooner try to extend their perfect seasons as each Vol has scored in all three of Tennessee???s races this season. Tobin has two fourth-place team finishes sandwiched around a second-place finish on the team at the 8K???UT Invitational. Spooner has improved his finish on the team at each race. He started his collegiate career by crossing the finish line fifth on the team and has placed fourth and third on the team in the last two races.
Sophomore Chris Kane gets his first look at Indiana State???s home course. Kane has competed in all of Tennessee???s races this season and scored at the 8K UT???Invitational as the fifth Vol to finish. Michael Brodsky, David Clabo, Andrew Dawson and Steve Fassino round out Tennessee???s travel squad. This weekend marks the debut of all four runners at this course.
Tennessee will compete in the blue race at 11 a.m. The complete men???s field features 27 of the top-30 ranked teams in the nation and eight other teams that received votes in this week???s poll. The blue race features 39 teams, including nationally-ranked opponents Alabama, Florida State, Iona, Iowa State, Louisville, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Portland, UCLA, Villanova, Virginia and Washington. The men???s open race begins at 1:30 p.m. All start times are listed in Eastern Standard Time. Results will be available following each race at GoSycamores.com.
??
VOLS RANKED FIFTH IN SOUTH REGION
The Tennessee men???s cross country team is ranked fifth in the South Region in this week???s U.S.???Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
Alabama, ranked eighth in the nation, leads the South Region rankings. The Crimson Tide are followed in the region by Florida, Florida State and Belmont. Auburn (sixth), Mississippi State (seventh), Georgia (10th) and Vanderbilt (14th) also are ranked this week. Arkansas, ranked ninth in the nation, leads the South Central Region poll with LSU ranked fifth in the region. Kentucky is ranked ninth in the Southeast Region, giving the SEC 10 regionally-ranked teams in the polls that recognize the top-15 teams in each of the nine regions.
The complete national and regional polls, as well as a map of each regional area, can be found at www.USTFCCCA.com.
