Nov. 10, 2016
Event: NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships
Date: Friday, Nov. 11
Site: Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.
Host: Florida State
Start Times:
Women’s 6k – 7:30 a.m. (CT)
Men’s 10k – 8:30 a.m. (CT)
Live Results: HERE
Live Streaming: HERE
Championship Central: HERE
Records: HERE
Seeking to lock down their sixth consecutive berth in the NCAA Championships and win a third straight region title, the Vanderbilt women’s cross country team travels to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend for the NCAA South Regional meet. The Vanderbilt men will also be in action at the Regional meet, which features 36 women’s teams and 31 men’s teams. The top two teams for each gender automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships in Terre Hate, Ind. on Nov. 19. The top four individual finishes that are not already on a qualifying team will also lock up a spot in the NCAA Championship field. Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s meets:
The skinny on the Commodores:
The Vanderbilt women are the two-time defending champions of the NCAA South Regional, having won the event with just 65 points in 2015 and 52 points in 2014. Vanderbilt enters the regional meet ranked third in the field this time around, just behind Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Commodores have three top-30 finishers from last year’s regional race running this year. Carmen Carlos finished 12th in last year’s meet, Sara Tsai placed 24th, and Maddie Criscione finished 28th a year ago. Tsai was named to the 2016 Women’s All-SEC Second Team last week. Full story on Tsai HERE.
The men’s cross country team is coming off a competitive effort in the SEC Championships that saw them finish 12th. Jake Van Geffen (25:57.10) and Nikolas Gkotsis (26:06.70) led the way for the Commodores with 56th and 65th place finishes, respectively. Van Geffen also was the top finisher for the Commodores in last year’s NCAA South Regional, placing 61st with a time of 32:35.10.
Scouting out the Competition:
‘The top five teams for the women’s race, in order, are Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Lipscomb (according to the most recent USTFCCCA Cross Country ranking). Individually, some of the expected top finishers are Anne-Marie Blaney (UCF), Carmela Cardama-Baez (Florida State), Veronica Eder (Auburn) and Elisabeth Bergh (Florida).
Ole Miss is also the top-ranked team on the men’s side, with Middle Tennessee State, Florida Staet, Georgia and Alabama rounding out the remainder of the top five. Defending champion Antibahs Kosgei from Alabama returns this year to defend his title. Some of his top challengers will include Arse’ne Guillorel (Samford), Harry Mulenga (Florida State), Sean Tobin (Ole Miss) and Jacob Choge (MTSU).
Scheduled to run for the Vanderbilt women:
Reagan Anderson, Carmen Carlos, Maddie Criscione, Devon Grisbaum, Megan Huebner, Ginger Hutton, Mailin Struck and Sara Tsai.
Scheduled to run for the Vanderbilt men:
Caleb Casolaro, Sam DeFabrizio, Nikos Gkotsis, Evan Suzman, Harrison Thomas, Jake Van Geffen and Jason Vincze.
Apalachee Regional Park History and Information:
The Apalachee Regional Park cross country course was developed by the Leon County Recreation Department in collaboration with Florida State University athletics and the local Gulf Winds Track Club, was designed with the sport in mind. A series of trails and loops allows for competition to be contested over a wide range of race lengths.
The predominant running surfaces are grass and crushed shell. The width of the course ranges from approximately 150 meters at the starting line and is significantly wider than 25 meters through the first 800 meters, where it narrows to 15 meters at the 1000m mark. The course meets and actually exceeds the NCAA Championships 10-meter width requirement at all points through the finish chute following the completion of a widening and renovation project.
Looking back to last year:
With freshman Caroline Pietrzyk storming to a second-place overall finish and the rest of Commodores crossing the line with an impressively-small spread, Vanderbilt captured its second consecutive NCAA South Region Championship Tuscaloosa, Ala., last year. The win enabled the Commodores to secure their fifth straight trip to the NCAA Championships. Pietrzyk, the SEC Female Freshman Runner of the Year, posted a time of 20:11.53 for the Commodores, who finished with 65 points. Mississippi State was second with 78 points and also clinched a spot at nationals. Vanderbilt senior Vanessa Valentine earned a Top-10 finish, taking eighth at 20:31.51. Carmen Carlos was 12th at 20:36.73, Sara Barron was 22nd at 20:56.63 and Sara Tsai was 24th at 21:00.72.
The Vanderbilt men’s cross country team closed out the season with a 19th-place finish at the NCAA South Region Championships on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Jake Van Geffen paced the Commodores, finishing in the upper half of the field in 61st place with a time of 32:35.06.
QUOTING THE COACHES
Head coach Steven Keith
On whether there is any additional pressure on the team as two-time defending champs –
“There is no added pressure or target on our back this fall. It does give us the incentive to match our own expectations and to run as good of a team as possible, however. We come in ranked third in the region, so we will have our work cut out for us to advance to NCAAs.”
On the how the SEC Championship meet prepared the team for this race –
“The SEC Championship was a better race for us in that we grouped most of our runners within 10-15 seconds of each other and they moved up considerably in the second half of the race. This group will have to be a little more aggressive in their early placing and connection with the front of the race in order to give us a shot at qualifying.”
Assistant coach Bekah Smeltzer:
On the teams’ approach to postseason races –
“We try not to do anything out of character. Come race day, it is all about managing ourselves, staying true to who we are and what we do best. That means taking care of our business on a personal and team level.”
On how the regular season schedule prepared the team for postseason –
“Whenever you design a racing schedule for the upcoming season, you intend for it to challenge your team while also being a source of confidence. This year’s schedule accomplished that. We learned a lot, on both an individual and team level. We were resilient when things didn’t go the way we wanted, we were humble when we had success and we found ways to solve our problems on a consistent basis.
