NCAA Regional Championship Central | Men’s Course Map | Women’s Course Map
Nov. 12, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt cross country teams enter the postseason this weekend as they will compete at the NCAA South Region Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday. The meet will feature the men’s 10,000 meter race at 10 a.m. CT while the women’s 6,000 meter race will follow at 11:15 a.m.
“This weekend is a great chance to finish off what has been a very successful season for both the women and the men,” Head Coach Steve Keith said. “It’s always nice to finish on a good note as this can act as a very positive incentive for next fall.”
The Commodore women’s team looks to build off its impressive sixth place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championships two weeks ago in Oxford, Miss. VU’s sixth place finish was the program’s best finish at the conference meet since they placed fifth in 2003 and it also tied for the fifth best finish in the 27-year old program.
The Commodores finished the meet with 142 points, it’s best score since 2003. Vanderbilt is currently ranked No. 6 in the latest USTFCCCA NCAA South Regional poll.
“The women will have another battle similar to the SEC meet a couple of weeks ago,” Keith said. “We’ll be fighting Georgia, Alabama and Auburn for team places 4-7. “After finishing only one point behind Alabama’s fifth-place team at the SEC meet we hope to turn the tables on them but it will be tough challenge on their home course.”
Individually, the VU women have shown a lot of depth and consistency this season and they look to continue to run as a tight group this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
“We had just a 19 second time gap between runners one through five at SECs and we will try to keep that close grouping at the Regional meet,” Keith said. “In our five meets this year we have had three different women lead the team and this is a tribute to how deep we are and how close we want to run as a pack. Anything in the 20-30 second time gap should yield a very good team result. The women are feeling strong and positive after a solid effort at the conference meet so they’re very anxious to go”
On the men’s side the Commodores will be running its first 10K of the season after running the 8K the majority of the season. The men are fresh off a 10th place outing at the SEC Championships after finishing with 282 points. Sophomore standout Jenner Kizer once again paced VU with a time of 26:42.42, good for 45th place while freshman Chris Baker came in 59th.
“The men have been around 13th the last few years and even with a young team that has freshmen that will be running their first ever 10km, we are looking for another top-15 finish,” Keith stated. “The key will be our grouping in runners 2-5 behind our leader, Jenner Kizer.”
NCAA South Region Schedule
10 a.m. – Men’s 10K race
11:15 a.m. – Women’s 6K race
