CROSS COUNTRY HEADS TO FRIGID LOUISVILLE FOR NCAA SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

Friday, November 14

Louisville, Ky.

1:00 PM

Radford University

NCAA Southeast Regional

Photo by: Big South Sports Photos

CROSS COUNTRY HEADS TO FRIGID LOUISVILLE FOR NCAA SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

11/13/2014 1:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country

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RADFORD, Va. – The Radford men's and women's cross country teams are on their way to Louisville, Ky. for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Southeast Regional, which is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 14^th. The races will be held at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.

The course will host over 600 student-athletes as there will be 37 men's teams and 40 women's teams competing from the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky.

The field will include four nationally-ranked men's teams including No. 16 Furman, No. 18 NC State, No. 22 North Carolina and No. 28 Virginia. The women's heat will feature three nationally-ranked teams in No. 11 North Carolina, No. 14 Virginia and No. 18 NC State.

RU had the privilege of running the mostly flat, fast course on Oct. 4 when Louisville hosted the Greater Louisville Classic.

Radford is coming off impressive performances at the Big South Championships hosted by Gardner-Webb. The women placed third while the men took fourth in their respective team races.

Teresa Williamson led the way for the Highlanders as the senior placed fourth with a time of 18:01.37. Williamson was followed closely by redshirt senior Katie Hickey, who finished eighth with a time of 18:49.44. This allowed Radford to have multiple all-conference runners at the same meet for the first time since 2000. RU's third-place effort on the women's side was the program's first top-three finish at the conference meet since 1990.

In the men's heat, Radford was able to record its highest finish at the conference championship since 2007. Three Highlanders were able to finish inside the top-30 with junior Chaz Porter leading the way with a time of 27:03.30. Porter, who finished 27^th, was only slightly ahead of freshmen Matthew Farmer (27:10.20) and Brady Guertin (27:12.30) who finished 28^th and 29^th, respectively.

The women's 6K will begin at 12 p.m. with the men's 10K starting at 1 p.m. Cold weather is in the forecast with a high of 38 degrees and mostly sunny. The top two teams at each of Friday's nine regional meets will automatically advance to the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 22.

From there, 13 at-large selections will be made by using a formula based on head-to-head success against other national qualifiers during the regular season. A total of 31 men's and 31 women's teams will compete on the national stage.

Individually, student-athletes placing in the top 25 at the regional meet will earn all-region honors and become eligible for advancement to Terre Haute. The national meet features 38 individual competitors not on advancing teams. The top four finishers from each regional meet who are not part of a national-qualifying squad will punch their ticket to Terre Haute. Then, two at-large individuals will be added to round out the national field.

In summary, the only people who will know for sure they are bound for Terre Haute on Friday are the top two teams in each race and the first four individuals who cross the finish line. The complete field of team and individual qualifiers to Terre Haute will be revealed Saturday on NCAA.com.