Nov. 12, 2010
ATLANTA – Coming off of an 11th place showing the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s cross country teams look to move up into the top-10 at the NCAA South Regionals hosted by Samford University in Hoover, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 3. The women will kick things off with a 9:45 a.m. race followed by the men’s race an hour later.
“The NCAA South Region Meet is always an exciting race with the best teams and individuals vying for qualifying spots at the NCAA Nationals,” said head coach Alan Drosky. “This year’s edition will take place on a new course in Hoover. We expect a good group of fans and supports there to cheer on the team and the student-athletes are anxious to run in front of family and friends.”
Both teams are coming off an 11th place showing at the ACC Championships in Boston in the school’s first cross country race in the state of Massachusetts. Mary Kate DuBard headed all runners with a 23rd place finish on the women’s side coming across in 21:06.4 while the men were lead by D.J. McMillan who finished 43rd with a time of 25:04.9.
In this season’s race, there will be 35 women’s teams in competition including Florida State, the 2010 ACC Champion and No. 2 nationally ranked team. Georgia Tech will run 10 of their female athletes at the race.
“The women have a great shot of reaching their season goal of a top ten finish,” continued Drosky. “It will take a concerted effort by the middle of our line-up. They continue to impress me with the consistent progress they are making. Individually, Mary Kate will be in the hunt for a national berth. She’s put herself in a position to attain that goal, now she just needs to focus on executing her race plan.”
On the men’s side of things, 32 teams will be represented including Tech with 13 athletes competing in the race. The No. 6 nationally ranked Florida State squad and the 25th ranked Alabama cross country corps will provide some tough competition.
“The men go to Birmingham with redemption on their minds,” said Drosky. “Our only disappointing meet this year was our last and a such an inopportune time – the conference meet. But they believe, as I do, in their fitness and their heart. We’ve pointed to this meet all season long and they are ready for this challenge.”
For meet results and a recap of the event tune back into RamblinWreck.com Saturday afternoon.
