ETSU Women 6K race at 8:30am; Men’s 10K race at 9:30am

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (November 10, 2016) – Qualifying spots in the NCAA Cross Country Championships are on the line on Friday, November 11 as the ETSU cross country program heads to Tallahassee, Fla. for the NCAA South Region Championships.

The 6k women’s race starts at 8:30 a.m. followed by the men’s 10k race at 9:30 a.m. at Appalachee Regional Park on the campus of Florida State University.

The ETSU men’s team comes into Friday’s meet ranked No.15 in the latest USTFCCCA South Region poll and will go up against 23 south region teams including Southern Conference foes, Chattanooga and Samford.

Two weeks ago at the SoCon Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn., the ETSU men placed third as the Bucs were led once again by senior Simeon Roberts who recorded a season-best time of 24:15.10 to finish seventh and earn First Team All-SoCo honors.

Following Roberts was sophomore James Garst who just missed out on All-SoCon honors, placing 15^th. Freshman Adam Bradtmueller was the third Buccaneer to cross the finish line with a time of 24:51.98 en route to earning Freshman All-SoCon recognition.

The ETSU women’s team recorded their highest finish at the SoCon Championships since 1999, finishing in third place. ETSU women will face stiff competition with 32 regional opponents and three SoCon opponents (Chattanooga, Mercer, Samford).

For the first time all season the women had a near pace-leader as Katie Hirko led the blue and gold with a time of 17:54.79 to finish 15^th. Right behind Hirko was Victoria Hutchens who placed 21^st with a time of 18:09.04. Close behind Hutchens was Macy Carrier who posted a season-best time of 18:15.88 to finish 22^nd.

The top two teams for each gender, and the top four individuals not on those teams, automatically qualify for the Nov.19 NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.

Live results with splits timing and scoring will be available at: http://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?DB_OEM_ID=32900&mid=104
Host Florida State will provide a Facebook Live feed of both races at: https://www.facebook.com/FSUSeminolesCrossCountry/.

For more information on Buccaneer Cross Country, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the cross country pages. Follow ETSU cross country on Twitter @ETSU_TF_XC