It’s an exciting time to be a runner on the Tennessee cross country team.
The postseason is officially here as the Vols head to Alabama to compete in the NCAA South Regionals race this Friday. The South Regionals is the first playoff experience on the NCAA level for the team this year.
Across the United States, there are nine total regions, each having 20 to 30 teams within them. Only the top two teams of each region are guaranteed a bid into the championships, finalizing a total of 18 teams entered into the final round of the NCAA Championships.
An NCAA selection committee votes on 13 “at-large teams” to join the final 18 using a points-based system. In addition to the squads competing, the committee lets in a few exceptional players on their own. There will be an additional 36 total individual runners invited from schools who didn’t make the cut.
Tennessee, as part of the southern region, will be competing against schools in states including Florida, Georgia and Alabama. With no conference ties being taken into consideration, Tennessee will run against a variety of teams across the nation, some of which they have faced before in the SEC Championships.
However, not all the teams are familiar competitors. Schools such as Florida State, which resides in the ACC, warrant an unfamiliar and new competition for the Vols.
On top of multiple conferences and new teams to run against, the Tennessee men’s team will face a large challenge in having to run a 10K race as opposed to the normal 8K it has run the entire season; the women will run a 6K race.
Team captain Zach Long has confidence in Tennessee’s chances, though, and doesn’t want to overthink anything.
“I think it’s important to just keep it simple and keep everyone calm and not overthinking the race,” Long said. “It’s definitely important for everyone to perform well tomorrow but if everyone goes out and does what we’ve been doing all season, we will be just fine.”
Although the lineup has yet to be officially released, there are seven secured runners for both the men and women’s teams travelling down to Alabama on Friday for the upcoming race.
In terms of progress of the team overall, director of track and field and cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan feels that the team’s progression over the regular season has been palpable and is excited with where the team has landed so far.
“I feel really good about where both of these teams were able to arrive at this season,” Alford-Sullivan said. “We’ve been able to really make an impact on the men’s side and the women’s side. We will ride our momentum into Regionals and do our very best and see where the chips fall.”
The race will be hosted by the University of Alabama this Friday, with women starting at 9 a.m. and men at 10 a.m. The top finishers will notch a bid into the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 18.
