The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Cross Country rolls into NCAA Championships on Saturday
11.19.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns look to close 2015 season with strong showing
NCAA Championships information
Championship Central
Women: 6000m | Men: 10,000m
Time: 11 a.m. CT
Where: E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park Cross Country Course | Louisville, Kentucky
USTFCCCA Live Blog (link coming soon)
Live Video (free)| Live Results | Course Maps: Women & Men | USTFCCCA Preview |
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Longhorns are set to take on the best of the best on Saturday as the men's and women's cross country teams compete at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
For the first time since 2012 both the men's and women's teams qualified for the national championship meet and both are looking to close the 2015 season well.
Brady Turnbull is the lone senior on the men's squad. On the track he is an 800-meter specialist, so running the 10,000 meters in cross country is a change for him but one he has embraced and is looking forward to running one last time with his teammates.
"Last race with my teammates toeing the line together, they know that. They know what it means to me and what this team has come together to do," Turnbull said. "It's been a good season for me so far. One more 10k."
The last 10k of the season for the men and 6k for the women starts at 11 a.m. Central from E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville.
Saturday marks the seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship for the men's team and the first for the women since 2012. The highest finish the men have had in that span was ninth in 2012. Last year, the men took 26th.
The women enter the national championship with a head of momentum following their second-place finish at the regional meet. The Longhorns entered that race ranked fourth in the South Central region and following a sixth-place showing at the Big 12 Championships.
Thanks to a total team effort and strong pack running the women advanced. Redshirt sophomore Mary Beth Hamilton said she and her teammates wanted to prove they were the team that was ranked earlier in the season and move on to NCAA's.
"We went in to regionals knowing that we would have to approach it with a different strategy than other teams were," Hamilton said. "Knowing that we wouldn't have a low stick, and that girl way out front, we tried to approach it with more of a pack mentality."
This weekend Texas will be back on a course where they did not have so much success earlier in the season. The men's team finished 16th at the Pre-National Invitational hosted by Louisville in October. The women finished a disappointing 40th.
But Texas is ready to leave those performances behind and close the door on 2015 with a great showing at the NCAA Championship.
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.
Fans can follow the action online with updates on Twitter from @UTexasTrack and @USTFCCCA. A free live webcast of the action will be available at ncaa.com and FloTrack.org. 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. Live results will be provided by PrimeTimeTiming.com.
Texas Quotes
Coach Brad Herbster
On women qualifying for nationals: We talked about it for two weeks make sure they understood it's not about fitness at this point it's just about who wants it the most. The women got out there and it wasn't about position. We grouped it up and got it done.
On implementing pack mentality: Start in a group literally in a tight pack and make sure you are covering moves. Really what you are doing is getting comfortable on the track and positioning yourself with your teammates and if one's over there and one's over there, they aren't grouped up.
On women's performance at Pre-National Invitational in Louisville earlier this season and the regional last week in College Station: It was definitely the low point of the season. One thing we concentrate on is make sure you race like you practice, and at that race we just weren't good. It was embarrassing overall and we had to come back and bounce back. On the women's side I was proud of them for one qualifying and two rallying because there was only one more week left in the season and they could have just quit and they didn't.
Mary Beth Hamilton
On Pre-National Invitational performance at Louisville earlier this season: At Pre-Nationals we all lost sight of each other and panicked a little bit. We have taken huge strides since then and are excited to show people that, and it seems like all people can remember is 40th at Pre-Nationals and we are definitely ready to change that.
On low point of up and down season at Pre-Nats: If you had to pick a low point that was definitely it. I think we rallied and got a lot more serious. In people's personal performances there was huge, huge growth and that was an important part of the season to turn it around.
Brady Turnbull
On qualifying for NCAA Championships: We need a date to the dance, and the women made it, and we made it so there you go. We saw the girls qualify and seeing them step up and make it the race right before us motivated us. We had to go out there and race within ourselves. If we went out and raced the way that we had all season we could get it done. The guys' team has been focusing on the pack mentality all season and you can see it in our finishes.
On pack mentality strategy at NCAA's: More so at nationals. I think the teams that are successful at nationals are the teams that have good team chemistry and can run together with their teammates.
Players Mentioned
