The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Cross Country teams ready for NCAA Championships
11.16.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns set to take on nation's best in cold, rainy conditions
USTFCCCA Championship Central | Live Results | Course Maps: Men / Women | Live Stream ($) |
Coach Herbster Press Conference
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One more meet is on the slate this weekend as the Texas Cross Country teams are set to take on the best of the best at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning. Action gets underway Saturday at 9:45 a.m. Central from E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville where the Longhorns will look to close the 2017 campaign strong.
Texas is one of 17 schools to qualify both its men's and women's teams for the national championship meet.
Conditions in Louisville are expected to be cold and rainy. Heavy rains on Wednesday forced the closure of the course for practice on Thursday morning to ensure the integrity of the course conditions. Texas Coach Brad Herbster said his team is not focusing on the potential muddy conditions and instead looking internally to make sure the Longhorns ride the momentum of the last month and stick with their game plan.
"We're really looking forward to the NCAA Championships. Being at this meet, you're one of the top 31 teams in the country," Herbster said. "The way our men and women have been racing at the last couple of races has really looked for big things to happen at NCAAs. The momentum they have. The confidence they have as we go into the NCAA Championships should be extremely high."
The men's team enters the NCAA Championships ranked No. 22 in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches Poll and are at this meet for a ninth straight year. The women are receiving votes in the poll and return to the championship meet after missing last year.
Texas qualified its men's team automatically through the regional after a display of depth with one of the top runners on the bench and only finishing six runners. The Longhorns are looking for their first Top 25 finish since 2013 when they finished 14th.
On the women's side, the Longhorns bounced back at the Big 12 Championship with a third-place finish after a disappointing showing at the Pre-Nationals Invitational. That performance at home gave the women confidence heading into the regional to finish second and qualify for this championship meet. The women finished 31st in their last appearance here and their last Top 25 finish came in 2012.
Individuals finishing in the top 40 will earn USTFCCCA All-America honors, and both teams hope to see Longhorns make that list for the first time since 2013. Marielle Hall earned that status four years ago and the pair of Ryan Dohner and Craig Lutz were the last men's All-Americans for Texas.
Fans can keep up with the action online with a live stream provided by FloTrack.org. A subscription to the site's FloPro services is required for viewing. Live results with splits and updated team scores will be provided by NCAA.com. A link is available on TexasSports.com on the team's schedule page. The women's 6,000 meters starts at 9:45 a.m. Central with the men's 10k to follow at 10:45.
Texas Quotes
Coach Brad Herbster
On the women bounced back to run well at Big 12s and Regionals: Great leadership all the way around. A passion to be at the national championship meet. There are a lot of teams out there that are capable of making this meet, but for Texas to step up and really contribute and become a team in the past month has shown great leadership with Mary Beth and some of the other people on the team.
On the men coming short of a conference title providing motivation: Those kind of things are important to the guys. They know it. They want to do more at this meet. They don't want to just show up. They want to get in that top 15, top 20 mix year in and year out. This is a team that if we race like we did at Big 12, they can really step up and have a 13-second gap and also be a top 10 team, and that's big for the program.
Players Mentioned
