CROSS COUNTRY CENTRAL: NCAA South Regional

November 09, 2017 | Track & Field

Live Results NCAA South Regional Info

Tennessee will take on the South's best on Friday at the University of Alabama's Harry Pritchett Running Park

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the 2017 NCAA South Regional on Friday at the University of Alabama's Harry Pritchett Running Park in Tuscaloosa.

2017 NCAA South Regional

RACE DAY INFO

Date: Nov. 10, 2017
Location: Harry Pritchett Running Park
Host: Alabama Crimson Tide
Women's 6K Race: 10 a.m. ET
Men's 10 Race: 11 a.m. ET
Race Info: Live Results | NCAA South Regional Info | Women's 6K Entries | Men's 10K Entries
Meet Central: Click Here
Course Maps: Women's 6K | Men's 10K

Tennessee Men Competing
Alex Crigger
Gashaw Duhamel
John Elrod
Conner Hawkins
Andre Hillsman
Drew Kelley
Zach Long
Wesley Robinson

Tennessee Women Competing
Cassidy Giles
Taylor Luthringer
Peighton Meske
Megan Murray
Niamh Schumacher
Abigail Smith
Rachel Ware

The women's 6K race will start at 10 a.m. ET and the men's 10K race will follow with an 11 a.m. ET start. CLICK HERE to follow the live results of each race.

The top two teams in each race, along with the top four men's and women's individual finishers who are not members of those teams, will qualify for the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 18.

The Tennessee women will start in Box 24 and the UT men will start in Box 21. There are 40 women's teams and 33 men's teams competing at the NCAA South Regional.

Alex Crigger, Gashaw Duhamel, John Elrod, Conner Hawkins, Andre Hillsman, Drew Kelley, Zach Long and Wesley Robinson are slated to run for the UT men. The squad is coming off a fifth-place showing at the 2017 SEC Cross Country Championships at UGA Golf Course. Long (10th), Robinson (19th) and Elrod (25th) each logged top-25 finishes to lead a UT men's team that continues to get better and better with each race.

"I feel really good about where both these teams have arrived at this season," Tennessee director of track & field and cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We've been able to make an impact on the men's side. We have gained a lot of regular-season experience and great races there. We felt we came up a little bit short at the Paul Short Run, but turned around at the NCAA Pre-Nationals and competed tough there on the men's side and the women's side and we felt very good about that.

"In the SEC preseason ranking, our men were ranked 11th. We ended up fifth. We really feel good about that. We've been riding the momentum of that success from that day (SEC Championships) and we really feel like the guys have got a lot going in their favor. So we will ride that momentum into the 10K and into this competition. We are very excited about what we have accomplished and translating that into this NCAA experience for all of our kids."

Cassidy Giles, Taylor Luthringer, Peighton Meske, Megan Murray, Niamh Schumacher, Abigail Smith and Rachel Ware will run for the Tennessee women. The team finished 10th at SEC Championships with Murray (21st) and Schumacher (22nd) finishing in the top 25.

"On the women's side, we really feel like it is a super young team," Alford-Sullivan said. "It has been definitely evolving. We have seen some great front running out of Megan Murray all year long. Niamh Schumacher had a breakthrough race at the conference meet. So we really feel like that team is evolving. We have to fill it out with a few more recruits as we move forward, but our women, we are thrilled with their progress and what they have been putting together. We are really looking at the front end of those two kids really putting together a solid postseason race at this NCAA Regional."

The Tennessee men have won their NCAA Regional in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 2002. The UT women won the 1977 AIAW Region 2 meet, the 1983 NCAA District 3 meet and the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 NCAA South Regionals.