University of Tennessee Athletics
XC Vols Travel To SEC Championship
October 25, 2007 | Cross Country
The Tennessee men???s cross country team heads to Lexington, Ky., for Saturday???s 8K SEC Championship, hosted by the University of Kentucky and contested at the Kentucky Horse Park.
???I really like the mindset of this team as we go into this weekend???s competition,??? head coach George Watts said. ???Our training has gone exceptionally well and I expect us to run our best race of the season. I stress the importance of doing well in the championship meets and this group understands and appreciates the significance of representing Tennessee in the SEC Championships.???
Junior Andrew Press leads Tennessee into the conference championship after crossing the finish line as the Vols??? top finisher in each of the last three races. The last time a Vol runner led the team in three or more consecutive races was in 2005 when Zach Sabatino led the final six races of the season on his way to All-America honors. Press recorded the second-fastest time by a Vol on the 8K LaVern Championship Cross Country Course during Tennessee???s last race, the ISU Pre-Nationals, on Oct. 13.
Juniors Denton Jones and Steve Tobin and freshman Michael Spooner have joined Press to score in all four races this season. Jones led the team at the season-opening 8K Covered Bridge Open and has been the team???s runner-up the past two races. Tobin finished second on the team at the 8K UT Invitational, while Spooner crossed the finish line third on the team at the 8K???Greater Louisville Classic.
Team captain Yarrick Kincaid scored for Tennessee at the 8K ISU Pre-Nationals as he finished fifth on the team. Sophomores Chris Kane and Chris Rapp have also scored for the Vols this season. Kane earned his scoring position at the 8K UT Invitational and Rapp was the fifth Vol across the finish line at the 8K Greater Louisville Classic.
Sophomore Michael Brodsky has competed in every race this season, with his best finish coming at the 8K???UT Invitational where he placed 14th overall and sixth on the team. Senior Andrew Dawson and freshman Steve Fassino round out Tennessee???s travel squad for the SEC Championship. Both runners have competed in three of the four races this season.
Tennessee enters the conference championship race ranked fifth in the South Region by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Arkansas is currently the highest-ranked SEC team as the Razorbacks are tied for eighth in the national rankings. Alabama is ranked 12th in the nation and Florida comes in at 30th this week.
In addition to the nationally-ranked teams, Mississippi State (fourth), Auburn (sixth), Georgia (ninth) and Vanderbilt (13th) are ranked in the South Region. LSU???is ranked sixth in the South Central Region and Kentucky is 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.
Kentucky is hosting the SEC Championship for the first time since 1992. That year, the Vols finished second with 96 points. Tennessee leads the conference with 25 SEC team championships and with 16 individual SEC???titles. This year???s race starts at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
