The Chattanooga men’s and women’s cross country teams will have a chance to preview the NCAA South Region Championship course this Friday at the North Alabama Showcase at the John Hunt Cross Country Running Park. 

“We will have a very difficult meet ahead for both the men and women,” Mocs head coach Andy Meyer said. “This race is run on the new NCAA South Region course and all the top team sin the south will be there to get a feel for the course and in order to prep for the November meet.

“Most all the teams currently ranked in the south region will be there in addition to many good teams who are on the outside looking in.”

Slated to compete in the women’s race at No. 7 Alabama, No. 15 Ole Miss along with nine of the Top 15 South Region teams including Chattanooga. In the men’s race, Ole Miss is ranked 18th nationally and four of the Top 10 teams in the South Region are scheduled to run. 

“This will also allow an early season peek at conference foes ETSU, Samford and Mercer,” Meyer added.

Also confirmed to compete are Alabama A&M, Augusta, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mississippi State, North Alabama, Reinhardt, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Tulane, UAB and Wallace State.

“We certainly embrace the opportunity to race against such great teams and see where we are one month into our season,” Meyer said. “Our training has progressed very well, and we have minimal injuries, so both teams will be at or near full strength.

“Against this caliber of competition, we must stay focused on the race plan and concentrate on not giving up spots in the last kilometer,” Meyer said. “We must remain patient with our pacing and not lose sight of competing for places. Cross Country is scored by placing not time so competing with others around us is paramount.”

The race is slate to start at 8:30 a.m. with the men’s 8-kilomter race followed by the women’s 5K at 8:15 a.m. Live results will be available online at GoMocs.com for immediate results.


Women

Faith Brown, Brooke Rieves, Justine Glass, Lesley Green, Ashtyn Hagood, Makenzie Jones, Julianna McReynolds, Morgan Oullette, Emma Russum

Men

Jonathan Boyd, Lane Hollis, Aaron Isbell, Eric Mitchell, Kaigen Mulkey, Eammon O’Bryant, Ryan Phillips, Jasper Wilson