The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga cross country teams each placed 20th at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships Friday morning at the Harry Pritchett Running Park in Tuscaloosa.
Emily Poole paced the women's team finishing 37th overall. She covered the 6-kilometer race in a time of 21:03.2, besting her career-high run earlier this season at the same venue by more than 13 seconds.
Kennedy Thomson was the second Chattanooga finisher in a time of 22:47.3 followed by Brianna Nelson, two spots back, with a time of 22:48.2, beating out her previous best time.
Hannah Caldwell also set a PR, running the course in a time of 22:55.5 with Nicole Buehrle (22:57.1) right behind her. Haley Morris rounded out the scoring for the Mocs with a time of 23:03.6, topping her PR set at the Crimson Classic last month.
Ole Miss took first in the race with 59 points followed by Georgia with 73. The Bulldogs' Samantha Drop too first overall and Jessica Drop was third. Samford's Karisa Nelson placed second in the race. Samford finished third in the region standings followed by Florida State, Georgia Tech, Auburn and Mississippi State. Vanderbilt, Alabama and Tennessee rounded out the top 10.
Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State was 18th overall and finishing behind Chattanooga was Georgia State (21), Florida (22), Miami (23), Georgia Southern (25) and Mercer (28).
In the men's 10K, Nathan Watson led the men to a 20th place finish. He finished his first 10K race in a time of 33:07.2. Ryan Gebelein was the second UTC finisher with a time of 33:27.2 followed by John Payne with a time of 33:46.4.
Mark Britt ran a PR time of 34:10.9 and the final Moc runner, Richard Guiry also ran a personal best time finishing at 34:26.5.
Middle Tennessee placed three in the Top 10 to win the championship title. They were followed by Ole Miss, Alabama, Florida State and Tennessee in fifth place. Rounding out the Top 10 were Lipscomb, Auburn, North Florida, Georgia and Samford. East Tennessee placed 14th in the men's race. The Mocs finished ahead of Troy (21), Austin Peay (22), South Florida (23) and Florida Atlantic (24).
This closes out competition for the Chattanooga Running Mocs.