The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA South Central Region Championships
Cross Country eyeing spots at NCAA Championships at regional
11.12.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns take on South Central Regional Championships in College Station
NCAA South Central Regional Championships information
Championship Central
Women: 6000m | Men: 10,000m
Time: 10 a.m. CT
Where: Dale Watts Cross Country Course | College Station, Texas
USTFCCCA Live Blog | Live Results | Course Maps| USTFCCCA Preview | FloTrack Preview |
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Longhorns have their sights set on qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Friday. Texas takes on a strong field at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in College Station on Friday morning with spots at the national championship on the line.
Last season, the Texas men finished second behind Arkansas to grab one of the two automatic spots at the regional championship meet. A repeat performance in the top-two this year would earn the men their seventh straight trip to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
The women look to rebound from a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships two weeks ago and are attempting to qualify for the national championship for the first time since 2012.
Sophomore Jacob Pickle finished 13th last year as a true freshman to earn all-region honors. He is the top returning finisher from a team that saw its top five finishers all make the all-region team. It will take another performance like that to get the men's team back to the NCAA Championships this year, and that is the intent for the Longhorns, he said.
"Our team goals for this weekend are to go into the meet and not put any limits on ourselves, just because you never know what can happen if you fight all the way through the race," Pickle said. "Top two makes it to Nationals and we're not going to leave without that. That's the bare minimum."
Only 31 teams qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, making it the most difficult team championship to qualify in all of college sports. With 340 Division I schools sponsoring women's cross country and 310 for the men, less than 10-percent of the schools fielding a team advance to the championship meet. In comparison more than 65-percent of FBS football teams compete in postseason bowl games and 20-percent of Division I basketball teams compete in the NCAA Tournament.
The top two teams at all nine regional championships for cross country automatically advance, leaving 13 at-large bids available. Beyond that, the top four finishing individuals at each regional whose teams do not qualify for the national championship receive invitations to compete as individuals.
For the women sophomore Hannah Grubb said the Longhorns will need to do a good job of pack running to keep scoring gaps between their finishers narrow. With only two guaranteed spots up for grabs, not allowing other teams to sneak runners between them will be key for a low score.
"I know there are a lot of close calls for that second place spot, so we really just need to pack up and work together and just keep that spread really small in order to get second place," Grubb said. "That's the whole sport. You're not out there as an individual runner, you're out there as a team representing Texas and I do it for my teammates."
Fans can follow the action online with updates on Twitter from @UTexasTrack and @USTFCCCA. The official hashtag for the championship meet is #D1SouthCentral. The USTFCCCA also will be hosting a live blog on its website by pulling content from official team social media accounts and media members covering the race. A "National Results Wall" will be at ustfccca.org provided by CoverItLive and fans will be able to see live updates along with photos and more. Live results will be provided by FlashResults.com that will calculate team scores at the midway point of each race.
Texas Quotes
Hannah Grubb, Redshirt Sophomore
On expectations for this weekend's regional meet: I know that I want to be all-region, which is a top 25 finish. I would also like to run a PR which would be great because it's a really fast course at Texas A&M. I'll be supporting the team as much as I can.
On team goals for this weekend's meet: Our team goal is definitely to be top 2 because that would be a ticket to Nationals.
On what they are most nervous about: I guess just keeping good confidence throughout the race. So much of it is so mental, so keeping good confidence, showing up, and knowing that we're here to beat these teams and to get that spot that we deserve.
On what they are the most confident about: I know as a team we're going to work well together. When us ladies go out there, we are really supportive along the way. If you're running with a teammate, which is always great, you're trying to support them while trying to breathe at the same time. Just trying to be supportive figures out there on the course... I know we'll work well together doing that.
On how they are preparing for this week: We had two pretty tough workouts last week, but I guess since then we've been taking it easy starting on Sunday. Since then we've been tapering a little bit, like running ten miles instead of 12 miles. I guess we're just trying to take care of our bodies, do all of the little things, the ice bathing, the rolling, all of that. Treating our bodies nicely and showing up well rested and prepared.
On who will be their biggest competition in this weekend's meet: Definitely Arkansas. They have some really strong front runners so we're going to have to show up and fight against them. They are always a powerhouse.
On team strategies heading into the race: I guess just go in with total confidence in our training. We've done all of these hard workouts, we've practiced this race pace, we've worked as a team together, and we just have to remember when we get there on the course that we are as prepared as we've ever been and we just need to go out there with confidence and trust our training.
Jacob Pickle, Sophomore
On expectations for this weekend's regional meet: I definitely want to improve on last year's finish, but the race is wide open so I definitely don't want to put any limits on myself going into this weekend.
On what they are most nervous about: I'm most nervous about how the race is going to go. No race is the same, so you just have to be prepared for everything.
On what they are the most confident about: I'm most confident about how the team has been looking in practice and things have been going really well lately. I believe we'll be able to transfer that to the course.
On how they are preparing for this week: We've also just been doing more workouts that will get us more used to the race pace and will get us feeling good and feeling comfortable… just workouts that will give us more confidence heading into this weekend.
On who will be their biggest competition in this weekend's meet: Our biggest competition this weekend will also be Arkansas, but we definitely have to watch out for Texas A&M and Lamar because everyone wants to go to Nationals. It's not going to be an easy race.
On team strategies heading into the race: To prepare for this race, we just need to stay relaxed and not overthink it. Just knowing that we've done everything and all of the work has been done… it's just time to go out there and have fun.
On how important it is to have teammates running with them in the race: Having your teammates out there and racing with them is probably one of the most important things about having a successful race. Every single day in practice you're running with your teammates; you're never running alone. If you can replicate what you've done in practice to the course it's very important.
Players Mentioned
