The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA South Central Region Championships
Cross Country advances men, women to NCAA Championships
11.13.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns qualify both teams for first time since 2012
AUSTIN, Texas – For the first time since 2012 both the men's and women's cross country teams are headed to the NCAA Championships for the Texas Longhorns.
The women's team put together a total team effort with tight pack running at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships by finishing in second place and grabbing an automatic bid to the national championship race next week in Louisville, Kentucky.
On the men's side, the Longhorns continued their strong 2016 campaign by finishing in second place behind Arkansas as well and advancing to the NCAA meet for the seventh straight year.
"The teams ran great today. I'm really excited about the performance by the men and the women," Coach Brad Herbster said. "It's been since 2012 that we had both teams qualify, and the first time since the program was combined. I'm looking forward to getting to the NCAA Championships. This is a big day for Texas getting in, and now we have to have a good time and make sure we're performing well at NCAA's."
The Texas women's performance came on the heels of a sixth-place showing at the Big 12 Conference Championships two weeks ago and the Longhorns were not even receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll and were ranked fourth in the region heading into the race on Friday morning.
Texas was led by the trio of Mary Beth Hamilton, Hannah Grubb and Sandie Raines as they finished 16-17-18 in a tight pack to give the Longhorns a boost in scoring.
Arkansas won the women's race with 40 points as Texas was behind in second with 105. It marks the first time since 2012 the Texas women have advanced to the NCAA Championships.
"We knew going in that it would be a fight for that second place-spot," Hamilton said. "We played to our strength, which is our extremely close pack, and hung together as a group, trying to get as many in that top 25 as possible.
"There was a lot of encouragement and positive talk going on during the race, and that accountability really helped us pull through as a group. Going into this season, we were nationally ranked. The season brought us a few curveballs and bumps along the way but ultimately we pulled through, and we could not be more proud of that. We are so excited to represent Texas at the national level next week."
Hamilton, Grubb and Raines all received all-region honors for finishing in the top 25 at the regional championship meet.
Sophomore Jacob Pickle and senior Brady Turnbull ran with the lead pack and pushed the Longhorns into the championship meet with top 10 finishes. Pickle finished fifth overall with Turnbull not far behind in seventh. The Longhorns had all five of their scoring runners place 21st or better to finish behind Arkansas by just 18 points with a total of 69.
"I was very excited with how the team fought all the way through the race. We competed and showed a lot of Texas fight," Pickle said.
Joining pickle on the all-region team were Nate Moore (19th), Connor Hendrickson (20th) and Alex Rogers (21st) as the trio showed great pack running to keep other teams from stealing points from the Longhorns.
"The women did a great job, Mary Beth and everybody on that crew just stepped up and ran as a group and packed it up. You can't really ask for more out of that group," Herbster said. "On the men's side, the men stepped up and had a great group early on and maintained it throughout."
Last season, the Texas men finished 26th at the NCAA Championships and will be bringing a young squad this year with the Horns losing four seniors from that team a year ago. Turnbull finished 191st the NCAA meet least year, and Hendrickson was 222nd with Pickle finishing 230th.
No one on the current women's roster ran at the 2012 NCAA Championships.
The NCAA Championships will be held in Louisville on Nov. 21. The women will run a 6k race while the men will compete in another 10k like today. Colorado is the defending champion on the men's side and the Michigan State women look to repeat while the New Mexico women will enter as the favorite and ranked No. 1 in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches Poll.
Only 31 teams qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships with 18 automatic bids going to the top two teams at each of the nine regional championships. There are then 13 at-large bids available to fill the field. Only 10-percent of the teams that field a cross country team at the NCAA Division I level qualify for the national championship meet, making it the most difficult championship event to qualify for in the NCAA. The top four finishing individuals whose teams do not receive bids to the NCAA meet receive invitations to compete as an individual.
The best finish the Texas men have had in their six-year run of consecutive NCAA appearances was ninth back in 2012. The women finished 25th in their last appearance in 2012. The Longhorn women do have one NCAA title under their belt from 1986. This will be the women's fourth appearance in the last six years at the championship meet.
NCAA South Central Regional Championships Team Standings
Women Top 10
1: Arkansas – 40 pts – Automatically advance to NCAA Championships
2: Texas – 105 pts – Automatically advance to NCAA Championships
3: SMU – 132 pts
4: Baylor – 134 pts
5: Rice – 145 pts
6: Stephen F. Austin – 155 pts
7: Texas A&M – 190 pts
8: Lamar – 190 pts
9: UT Arlington – 267 pts
10: McNeese State – 280 pts
Men Top 10
1: Arkansas – 51 pts – Automatically advance to NCAA Championships
2: Texas – 69 pts – Automatically advance to NCAA Championships
3: Texas A&M – 85 pts
4: Lamar – 95 pts
5: Stephen F. Austin – 139 pts
6: Baylor – 192 pts
7: North Texas – 238 pts
8: UT Arlington – 253 pts
9: McNeese State – 259 pts
10: Houston – 287 pts
Texas Results
Women
16: Mary Beth Hamilton, 20:26.2, 15 pts
17: Hannah Grubb, 20:27.2, 16 pts
18: Sandie Raines, 20:29.4, 17 pts
26: Meghan Lloyd, 20:43.7, 25 pts
34: Alex Cruz, 20:58.7, 32 pts
36: Kaleigh Ervin, 20:59.9, (33 pts)
43: Connor Ward, 21:10.9, (40 pts)
Men
5: Jacob Pickle, 30:13.1, 5 pts
7: Brady Turnbull, 30:16.3, 7 pts
19: Nate Moore, 30:44.8, 18 pts
20: Connor Hendrickson, 30:47.8, 19 pts
21: Alex Rogers, 30:48.9, 20 pts
50: Eric Kroon, 31:46.6, (47 pts)
117: Pedro Nasta, 33:23.8, (114 pts)
Players Mentioned
