PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Seven of the nine NCAA Regional cross country races will feature American Athletic Conference teams, as all 12 conference schools continue their postseason action on Friday, November 9.
The top two teams from each region will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championship in Madison Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 17. Thirteen teams will receive at-large bids. Forty individuals, including the top-four runners from each regional outside the already qualifying teams, along with two individual at-large selections, will also punch tickets for a shot at a national title.
INSIDE THE MEN’S REGIONALS
The American saw three men advance to the 2017 NCAA Championships, as two-time defending South Central Region champion Emmanuel Rotich of Tulane is the sole returner from last year’s list. In total, 27 men from around the league have earned a trip to the national race with Tulsa’s Marc Scott securing the league’s top finish at No. 10 in 2015. Five individual men have won an NCAA Regional in as many years under The American banner, while 34 conference athletes have earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region honors for finishing among the top-25 runners at one of nine regional sites across the country.
Rotich, The American’s 2017 Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year, is coming off his second-straight individual conference title to lead the Green Wave, becoming the conference’s second cross country athlete to win back-to-back championships. He won the 2016 South Central Regional title with a school-record 10k time of 29:58.9 and repeated in 2017 after bettering his record with a time of 29:49.1. Texas A&M serves as host of the NCAA South Central Regional meet for the second-consecutive year, as Tulane and Houston also prepare to run the Dale Watts cross country course. The Green Wave is ranked No. 14 in the South Central Region, which features the No. 19 team in the nation: Arkansas.
Tulsa remains The American’s only current member to have won the conference’s men’s cross country title after the Golden Hurricane won its fifth-straight championship in New Orleans on Oct. 25. It marked the fourth time in conference history that six Golden Hurricane athletes finished in the top 15 to earn All-Conference honors. Sophomore Scott Beattie led the pack in second place, followed by Cameron Field in fourth place. Tulsa, which ranks third in the Midwest Region and received votes in the latest USTFCCCA poll, has been the only conference men’s cross country program to earn a team bid to the NCAA Championship, sending squads in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Golden Hurricane has finished in the top five in the Midwest Region for the past seven years, most recently taking third place in 2017.
Wichita State is No. 14 in the Midwest Region will join Tulsa in making the trip to Peoria, Ill., for the regional race. The field will include two nationally ranked foes: No. 6 Iowa State and No. 21 Oklahoma State.
Temple is the No. 6 team in the Mid-Atlantic Region heading into Friday’s race in State College, Pa. The Owls ran for their best finish in conference history in October, placing second at The American Championship. They had four All-Conference runners, including Zach Seiger, who paced the team with a fifth-place finish. The Owls took a top-10 spot in last year’s regional race, as they will be facing No. 19 Princeton, which won the Ivy League title in October.
UConn rounded out the top three at The American Championship and prepares for a trek to Buffalo, N.Y., for the Northeast Regional. Patrick Begley and Kyle Brackman both had their second-consecutive All-Conference performances. Begley is one of two returning All-Region conference runners after finishing 21st in 2017. The Huskies are ranked No. 13 in the Northeast Region and will be joined by the No. 12 team in the nation in Syracuse.
Cincinnati will face a tough field in the Great Lakes Region, which boasts five nationally ranked foes, including No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 15 Purdue, No. 23 Indiana and No. 27 Michigan. Cincinnati’s Aaron Bienenfeld recorded the best finish for a Cincinnati runner in the conference championship, coming in third place. The Great Lakes Regional race will be streamed live on FloTrack.com.
ECU, Memphis and USF will each take on strong fields. The Tigers and Bulls both travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for the South Regional, which includes No. 17 Ole Miss and No. 30 Tennessee. The Tigers collected two team titles in their regular season for the fourth time in program history after winning the Rhodes College Invitational and Brooks Twilight Classic. Danny Ferro, Matt Neeley and Evan Babatz each guided USF throughout the regular season. ECU will face four nationally ranked teams in the Southeast Region in Rock Hill, S.C. No. 16 Eastern Kentucky, No. 20 Furman, No. 26. N.C. State and No. 28 Virginia will be racing against the Pirates. Ethan Hageman has been among ECU’s top runners and is coming off a top-25 finish at the conference championship.
INSIDE THE WOMEN’S REGIONALS
SMU junior Hannah Miller is the conference’s only women’s cross country runner who booked a trip to the 2017 NCAA Championships. The league has seen two of its athletes win an NCAA Regional race with Temple’s Blanca Fernandez winning the Mid-Atlantic title in 2015 and UCF’s Anne-Marie Blaney winning the South Regional in 2016. The American has had 29 athletes finish in the top-25 of their respective regional races over the past five years to earn USTFCCCA All-Region distinction. Two teams and 21 individuals have advanced to run in the NCAA Championship race under The American banner.
The Mustangs received votes and cracked the top 30 in 2018 after finishing third or better in three of their four regular season meets. Along with Miller, Charlotte Tara Murphy is one of three returning All-Region runners in The American. Svenja Ojstersek and Miller finished second and fourth place, respectively, in the 2018 conference championship, as SMU placed fourth overall. The Mustangs rank No. 3 in the South Central region and look to build off their fourth-place finish from the 2017 regional race. The South Central meet in College Station, Texas, features No. 5 Arkansas, which won the 2018 SEC championship. SMU is one of two conference teams to earn a trip to the NCAA Championship (2013). Houston and Tulane will join SMU in making the trip to Watts Cross Country Course for the South Central meet.
The American’s first and second-place teams in 2018 will both head to Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill., for the NCAA Midwest Regional. Wichita State jumped up to No. 10 in the Midwest after winning its first American Athletic Conference title in New Orleans. The Shockers moved up five spots from last year’s conference race, placing four runners in the top 20. Winny Koskei, The American’s outdoor track and field 5,000 and 10,000-meter champion, led the pack to claim the individual title with a time of 21:51.96. She improved 17 spots from last year’s conference championship race. Behind her in third place was Rebekah Topham.
Tulsa placed second at The American championship and earned its fourth podium finish with seven of their top runners finishing in the top 30. Caitlin Klopfer (sixth), Jenny O’Bryan (seventh) and Ashley Barnes (12th) all had top-15 performances. Barnes placed 19th in last year’s regional race to collect All-Region honors. The Golden Hurricane joins the Mustangs as one of two teams in conference history to earn trips to the NCAA Championship (2014 and 2015). After finishing eighth in last year’s regional race, Tulsa is No. 12 in this year’s Midwest rankings heading into the meet. The Midwest meet includes three nationally ranked teams (No. 15 Iowa State, No. 23 Minnesota and No. 26 Oklahoma State).
After taking third place in The American Championship, Temple is ranked No. 8 in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Owls have three All-Conference runners on their squad in 2018 and will face No. 8 Villanova and No. 13 Penn State in State College, Pa., for their regional race. Garnering four top-three finishes in 2018, Temple looks to better its top-10 finish from last year’s regional.
For a second-straight year, a UConn runner claimed the Freshman of the Year honor with Jaclyn Gallery finishing fifth in the conference meet to lead the Huskies. UConn is No. 15 in the Northeast Region, which features three nationally ranked foes: No. 20 Columbia, No. 25 Syracuse and No. 27 Dartmouth. Audubon Golf Course in Buffalo, N.Y., will serve as the host site for this year’s NCAA Northeast Regional.
Cincinnati will be up against a tough field in the Great Lakes Region, which includes No. 7 Michigan, No. 10 Michigan State, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 14 Indiana and No. 18 Notre Dame. The Bearcats will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for the meet, which will be streamed live on FloTrack.com.
ECU is coming off a sixth-place finish at The American Championship, as the Pirates were paced by Anna Bristle who earned an All-Conference finish. The Southeast Region will take place in Rock Hill, S.C., as No. 11 NC State and No. 16 Furman will be included among the Pirates’ field.
Tallahassee will serve as the host for three American programs in the South Regional race. UCF, Memphis and USF will make the trip to run against a field that features four nationally ranked programs: No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Ole Miss, No. 29 Georgia and No. 30 Georgia Tech.