Men's cross country set for NCAA Regionals

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Vanderbilt will fight to keep its season alive Friday, Nov. 9, at Apalachee Regional Park in the NCAA South Regional. The men’s race is slated for an 8:30 a.m. CT start and will be streamed by the NCAA.

“The men still have goals we believe we can accomplish,” head coach Steve Keith said. “We want to finish off a good year for our program and set the tone for next year.”

Jason Vincze paced the men with his best race of the season at the SEC Championships in Auburn, Ala., on October 26. The senior out of Plano, Texas, finished 40th in a field of 108 competitors with an overall time of 24:03.4 and an average kilometer time of 3:00.4 in the 8K race. The finish was a 39-place improvement from a season ago. 

Continuing his impressive freshman campaign in second place for the Commodores was Nick Laning just 14-seconds behind Vincze in 54th place overall. Laning has kicked off his collegiate career leading the Commodores in four of the five meets he’s competed in this season. Following the Commodore Classic, Laning became the first men’s cross country student-athlete to garner SEC Freshman of the Week honors. 

Vanderbilt will also look to senior harrier Patrick Perrier for leadership as he’s been one of the top performers this season for the Commodores. His best race of the season came in the highly competitive Louisville Classic where the O’Fallon, Ill., native finished 72nd overall among 252 competitors.