Cullowhee, N.C. -- The Western Carolina men's and women's cross country teams are set to face fierce competition with NCAA National Championship bids on the line as the Catamounts run in the 2024 NCAA Southeast Regionals.
A combined 45 teams from across the southeast will run the courses at the Winthrop Farm course in Rock Hill, S.C. The top two teams on both sides will earn automatic qualifying bids to the NCAA National Championships in Madison Wisc. next week, while the top four individual finishers not on one of the automatic qualifying teams will receive bids as well.
The women's 6K race is the first on the docket at 10:30 a.m. with the men's 10K run to follow at 11:30 a.m.
The Catamounts are expected to field a full complement of men's runners in the race after a tremendous showing during the Southern Conference Cross Country Championships two weeks ago.
Drew Zink,
Logan Gullett,
Lawson Mecom,
Chase Thurber,
Matthew Womack,
John Davis, and
Justin Hayes all take the course for the Purple and Gold looking to follow up their second-place showing in Greenville.
Katherine Hopkins and Peyton
Skoglund are the only Catamount women's runners competing in the regional race as the pair led WCU's women's runners during the conference championships. The duo vies to earn an individual berth into the national championship field.
Friday's regional meet is the first showing in Rock Hill for the Catamounts since the 2018 regionals, when Kaitlyn Lingard set the women's 6K record with a 21:11 finish. The top five times on WCU's women's 6K list all happened during an NCAA Regional competition as the Catamounts hope to save their best running for the end of the season.
Friday's Meet Information:
2024 NCAA Southeast Regional | 1162 Eden Terrace, Rock Hill, S.C. 29730
Live Results:
https://tinyurl.com/fnmkpmvb
10:30 a.m. : Women's 6K
11:30 a.m. : Men's 10K
Teams (45): Appalachian State, Bellarmine, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Davidson, Duke, East Carolina, Elon, Eastern Kentucky,
Furman, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Hampton, High Point, James Madison, Kentucky, Liberty, Longwood, Louisville, Morehead State, Murray State, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, Northern Kentucky, Presbyterian, Radford, Richmond, South Carolina, South Carolina State, Southern Indiana,
The Citadel, UNC Asheville, UNC Chapel Hill,
UNC Greensboro, USC Upstate, Virginia, VCU,
VMI, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest,
Western Carolina, Western Kentucky, William and Mary, Winthrop,
Wofford
Bold – Southern Conference
