The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championships
Cross Country set for NCAA Championships
11.15.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The Longhorns will run with the nation’s best on Saturday in Madison.
MEET INFO | 6K MAP | 10K MAP | WATCH ($) | LIVE RESULTS
AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas will wrap up the 2018 Cross Country season on Saturday morning at the NCAA Championships. The meet will take place on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc. with the women's 6k beginning at 10:45 a.m. CT and the men's 10k starting at 11:45 a.m. CT. The meet will be streamed live on FloTrack.
Women's 6k Preview - 10:45 a.m. CT
Automatic Qualfiers: RV TEXAS, Arkansas, Boise State, Colorado, Columbia, Dartmouth, Florida, Florida State, Furman, Iowa State, Michigan, NC State, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Princeton, Villanova, Wisconsin
At-Large: BYU, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Penn State, Portland, Southern Utah, Stanford, Washington
The Longhorn women qualified for NCAA Championships with their second-place finish at the South Central Regional meet last weekend in College Station. Destiny Collins led the way with seventh-place finish, while Alex Cruz was right behind her, finishing ninth. Overall, UT had 99 points. Abby Guidry, Meghan Lloyd and Madeline Vondra rounded out the Top 5, while Jordan Welborn and Olivia Thompson also ran.
Three Longhorns came out of the meet earning All-Region honors. Collins (7th, 20:46.5), Cruz (9th, 20:54.0) and Guidry (20th, 21:28.1) were all recognized for their Top-25 finishes, as the women qualified for Nationals for the 16th time in school history.
"Our regional meet was great despite the conditions, which seemed to bring out the best in our athletes," women's cross country coach PattiSue Plumer said. "We saved the best race of the season for last weekend. We are very excited and ready for the cold weather. We have pretty high expectations for our team for this week, in terms of improving. If we race like we did last weekend I think we will be very pleased with the results."
Last season at NCAA Championships, the Longhorn women finished 31st with 788 points. The 2018 NCAA Championships mark just the sixth time in the last 15 seasons that UT has qualified.
Last Top 25 finish: 2012 (25th, 526)
Last Top 20 finish: 2010 (20th, 441)
Last Top 15 finish: 1987 (4th, 141)
NCAA Championships: 1986
Men's 10k Preview - 11:45 a.m. CT
Automatic Qualfiers: TEXAS, Arkansas, Bradley, BYU, Eastern Kentucky, Florida State, Iona, Iowa State, NC State, Northern Arizona, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Portland, Princeton, Syracuse, Villanova, Washington, Wisconsin
At-Large: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado, Colorado State, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Purdue, Southern Utah, Stanford, Tulsa, Wyoming
Four Longhorn men earned All-Region honors as they punched their ticket to Nationals last Saturday in College Station with 76 points. This marks the 36th time in program history that UT has qualified.
John Rice led the way with a sixth-place finish (31:44.3). Sam Worley (9th, 32:01.0) and Alex Rogers (10th, 32:01.7) finished right behind Rice, while Garek Bielaczyc finished 15th with a time of 32:13.3. Jake Johnson rounded out the scoring for the Longhorns, while Pedro Nasta and Charles Mills also ran.
"I thought the guys ran really well at Regionals," men's cross country coach Pete Watson said. "I thought the guys ran under control. I told them to stay together through 8k and if they wanted to run a little bit they could. Really happy with where we are at going into Nationals. I'm trying to keep the excitement low on the guys. The goal has been to have our best day at the NCAA meet and I think they're ready to do it. I told them, "It's going to be cold, but it'll be cold for everybody." Let's go in and be the best we can be on that day."
Last season at NCAA Championships, the Longhorn men finished 30th at NCAA Championships. The 2018 NCAA Championships mark the 10th straight season UT has qualified.
Last Top 25 finish: 2013 (14th)
Last Top 10 finish: 2012 (9th)
Players Mentioned
