GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional meet Saturday morning on the campus of Wingate University.
The Pioneers ran two weeks ago at the South Atlantic Conference championship meet, with the women taking seventh place and the men finishing in ninth. Seven runners will be competing for Tusculum in each event, which starts at 9 a.m. with the women's 6-kilometer race and will be followed at 10:15 a.m. by the men's 10-kilometer race.
The top three teams from the regional meet will automatically advance to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Evansville, Indiana on November 18. The top two individuals who are not part of a qualifying team will also automatically advance to the championship.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
A youthful group of four sophomore and three freshmen will compete for the Pioneers at the Southeast Regional after helping the Pioneers to their best finish at the conference meet since 2008. Tusculum placed 25th out of 27 schools at last year's regional.
Sophomore Alissa Furches finished 20th overall at the SAC Championship with a season-best time of 19:30.42 to earn honorable mention All-SAC recognition. Sophomore Emily Stoklosa crossed the line in 27th place and set a season-best time at 19:42.21, followed by freshman Addison Aguilar in 36th place in 20:01.34. Sophomore Brooklyn Smith the team's fifth scorer in 20:59.95, good for 58th place overall and a season-best time.
Also competing for the Pioneers are freshman Carrigan Bishop, who finished 64th at the conference meet in 21:15.14, with sophomore Makenzi Alley one spot behind in 65th place in 21:22.72. Freshman Angel Quay will also run for the Pioneers after she claimed 86th place at 23:06.80. Bishop and Quay each had their best times of the season in the SAC championship race.
Montevallo is the defending region champion, edging Queens for the championship by six points last season on their home course. Wingate finished third at last year's regional, with Anderson and North Georgia rounding out the top five.
MEN'S PREVIEW
Four freshmen will be among the seven runners for the Pioneers at the Southeast Regional meet, after helping the team to a ninth-place finish at the SAC Championship. Tusculum finished 21st out of 24 teams at last year's regional, which was held at the University of Montevallo.
Tusculum's top three finishers in the conference meet were all freshmen, led by Will Cronin who was 29th overall with a time of 26:38.41. Jackson Beason came in 33rd overall with a time of 26:51.68, followed in 46th place by Zac Branham who was clocked in 27:22.97.
Sophomore Mason Snelson was the fourth finisher for the Pioneers, turning in a season-low time of 27:36.26, while junior J'Quen Johnson was 73rd overall and the team's fifth scorer with a time of 28:50.96. Also competing for Tusculum were freshman Alex Haffcke, who was 82nd overall in 30:00.89, and junior Will Noel who ran the course in 30:51.78 and finished 86th.
Mount Olive is the defending regional champion, having beaten out Mars Hill and Queens at last year's championship meet. Flagler and Augusta also finished in the top five at last year's regional.