XC CENTRAL: NCAA Championships

MADISON, Wisc. — Tennessee senior Zach Long and junior Megan Murray will race in the NCAA Cross Country National Championships for the first time in their careers Saturday.

The women's 6K starts at 11:45 a.m. Eastern (10:45 a.m. Central) on Wisconsin's Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, followed by the men's 10K at 12:45 p.m. Eastern (11:45 a.m. Central).

FloTrack will be live streaming the finals (subscription required).

Long and Murray both qualified for the NCAA championships for their performances at last week's NCAA South Regional Championships. Long placed second in the men's 10K, crossing the line in 31:11.5 to help the Vols' to a third-place team finish. Murray was 10th in the women's 6K (20:56.8). Both earned USTFCCCA All-South Region honors for the second time in their careers.

Long (Rutledge, Tenn.) has finished in the top 30 in all five races this season, including his first career victory at the Auburn Invitational 6K. He has led the Vols for much of his cross country career, pacing the team to its first national ranking since 2005 (30th; Oct. 30). He is coming off a banner track season in which he set school records in the outdoor 5,000 meters and indoor 3,000 meters.

Like Long, Murray (Knoxville, Tenn.) will also compete in her first NCAA cross country championship. She has finished in the top 20 in all five of her races this season, including four top-10 finishes. She helped lead the Lady Vols to seventh-place team finishes at both the SEC and NCAA South Region championships, marked improvements from last year.

LAST TIME AT ZIMMER: This is Long and Murray's second time to run on the Zimmer Championship Course this season, having competed at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Sept. 28. In a race that featured 19 nationally ranked teams, Long was 30th in the championship 8K (23:50.4). Murray was fourth in the women's open 6K, crossing the line in 21:07.1.

ALL-AMERICA AT STAKE: The top 40 runners in both races will earn All-America status for cross country. Long has one All-America honor in track -- second-team accolades for his 12th-place finish in the 5,000 meters at the 2017 NCAA outdoor meet.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: Saturday marks the second time in Beth Alford-Sullivan's five years leading the Tennessee program that the Vols are represented in both the men's and women's NCAA championship fields. In 2014, Austin Whitelaw and Chelsea Blaase ran at NCAAs. Blaase was the most recent Vol to run at NCAAs; she also competed in 2015 and placed 14th to earn All-America honors.

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Players Mentioned

Zach Long

Megan Murray

University of Tennessee Athletics