University of Tennessee Athletics
XC Vols Continue Postseason Run
November 07, 2007 | Cross Country
The Tennessee men???s cross country team travels to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend for the 10K South Regional, which takes place Saturday on the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
???We look forward to the NCAA South Regional and the 10K distance,???head coach George Watts said. ???I feel real good about our preparation for this meet. We are sharper and more race ready than we were two weeks ago when we ran our best race of the season at the (8K) SEC Championship. We have a talented and tough seven guys toeing the line on Saturday. Our goal is to qualify for the NCAA Championship.???
Junior Andrew Press leads the Vols into the regional championship after crossing the finish line first on the team in each of the last four races. The last time a Vol runner led the team in four 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 earned All-SEC honors with his 13th-place finish at the 8K SEC Championship on Oct. 27.
Junior Steve Tobin also earned All-SEC acclaim at the conference championship after crossing the finish line right behind Press in 14th place. It was the second time Tobin had crossed the line second on the team after also doing so at the 8KUT Invitational on Sept. 14. Press and Tobin became the first Tennessee duo to earn All-SEC honors in the same season since Scott DeFilippis and Patrick Gildea in 2002.
Junior Denton Jones and freshman Michael Spooner finished third and fourth, respectively, on the team at the SEC race, with Jones just missing an All-SEC finish and Spooner earning a spot on the All-Freshman team. Press, Tobin, Jones and Spooner have scored for the Vols in all five races this season. Jones led the team at the season-opening 8KCoveredBridge Open and has been the second Vol across the finish line in two other races. Spooner???s highest team finish this season was the 8KGreater Louisville Classic when he was the third Vol to finish.
Tennessee???s other three competitors have all joined the top four to score for the Vols this season. Senior Andrew Dawson was the fifth man at the SEC Championship after battling a back injury the race before. Team captain Yarrick Kincaid scored for Tennessee at the 8K ISU Pre-Nationals and just missed scoring at the SEC Championship with his sixth-place finish on the team. Sophomore Chris Rapp earned his scoring position at the 8KGreater Louisville Classic as he was the fifth Vol across the finish line. Sophomore Chris Kane, who scored for the Vols at the UT Invitational, will travel with the team as an alternate.
Tennessee enters the regional championship race ranked fourth in the South Region by the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. SEC rivals Alabama and Florida are ranked first and second, respectively, in the region. Defending regional champion Florida State ranks third, while SEC foe Mississippi State rounds out the top five. Auburn (sixth), Georgia (eighth) and Vanderbilt (13th) are also ranked in the South Region. The complete South Region poll, as well as the national poll, can be found at USTFCCCA.com.
The top-two teams at the South Regional automatically advance to the 10K NCAA Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 19. In addition, the top-four individual finishers from a non-qualifying team advance to the NCAA championship race.
Tennessee finished fourth and advanced to the NCAA Championship as an at-large entry in 2005, which was the last time Florida hosted the South Regional. The Vols also finished fourth last year as UT hosted the regional championship race. This year???s race starts at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
