GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's and women's cross country teams will compete at the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championship meet, which will be held Saturday morning on the University of North Georgia Cross Country Course in Oakwood, Georgia.
The Pioneers finished eighth out of 13 teams in both the men's and women's South Atlantic Conference Championship races two weeks ago. Tusculum last competed as a team at the Southeast Region championship in 2021, finishing 11th on the men's side and 13th on the women's.
Tusculum will enter six men and two women in Saturday's event. The women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the men's 10-kilometer event at 11:15 a.m.
The top three teams in each gender will advance to the NCAA Division II Championship meet on Nov. 18 in Joplin, Missouri. In addition, the top two individuals not part of a qualifying team will also automatically advance to nationals.
MEN'S PREVIEW
Freshman Pau Valdepenas (Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues, Spain) earned SAC All-Freshman honors with a 25th-place finish at the conference meet, with a time of 24:23.25. Freshman Sam Shipp (Arnold, Mo.) was 26th overall in 24:23.44, followed by senior Antonio Aparicio (Valencia, Spain) who was 76th in 26:36.27.
Also competing for the Pioneers in the regional will be sophomore Jerry Ricker (Kingsport, Tenn.), junior Ryan Drysch (Shorewood, Ill.) and freshman Simon Ray (Greeneville, Tenn.).
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Senior Emily Coddington (Acosta, Pa.) was second-team All-SAC after finishing 10th overall with a time of 21:17.00. She finished 71st at last year's Southeast Region meet after placing 28th in 2021.
Sophomore Inmaculada Delgado (Seville, Spain) will also run for the Pioneers after she took 44th place at the SAC Championship with a career-best time of 23:09.08.
