NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt cross country travels to Tallahassee, Florida, for the NCAA DI South Region Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park Friday.
The women’s 6-kilometer race is set to begin at 7:30 a.m. CT, and the men’s 10-kilometer race is at 8:30 a.m. Vanderbilt’s women’s team enters the competition seeded ninth, and the men are the 13th seed. The Commodores will see SEC opponents Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee in Tallahassee.
THE LAST TIME OUT
The Commodore women earned a ninth-place finish in College Station at the SEC Cross Country Championships two weeks ago. Vanderbilt’s men placed 13th as a team. Senior Julia Rosenberg led the Dores for the second time this season, placing 27th overall. Claire Petersen has scored for Vandy at all three meets of her debut season. At the SEC Championships, she was top 50 overall and the 10th freshman finisher.
The Commodore men have been led by Michael Skora in every meet this season. He placed 60th overall and 10th among freshmen at the conference championship with a personal-best time of 24:06.0. He won the men’s 5k at the Belmont Opener, his first-ever collegiate race, and clocked the No. 2 time by an SEC freshman in the 5k this season (15:11.8). Skora placed top 15 overall and top 5 among freshmen at both the Southern Showcase and Joe Piane Invitational.
Graduate student Ellie Wolski joined Vanderbilt as a graduate transfer from Coastal Carolina where she was a first-team All-Sun Belt honoree and two-time Sun Belt bronze medalist in cross country and track and field. Before taking to the track, Wolski played on the Chanticleer’s soccer team for two years. In just her third season of cross country and first with the Commodores, Wolski paced the Vanderbilt women at pre-nationals and earned a top 10 individual finish. She was Vanderbilt’s second finisher at the SEC Championships, placing top 40 individually and setting another PR in the 6k (20:06.3)
2023 REWIND
In 2023, Vandy’s men and women finished 14th and 12th, respectively, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Florida. The Commodores’ top returners from the 2023 regionals are Rosenberg (38th – 19:55.9) and sophomore Jackson Scruggs (79th – 31:21.3).
KEEPING UP WITH THE COMMODORES
Fans can watch the NCAA South Region Championships on ESPN+ and find live results online.
