The Mississippi State cross country teams prepare this week to compete in the NCAA South Regionals at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.
Both teams are coming off incredibly strong performances at the Southeastern Conference Championships, where the men’s team finished sixth and the women’s team finished fifth.
“We’re going to this meet with the goal of going to the NCAA finals,” women’s head coach Al Schmidt said. “We’re hoping for a top three finish.”
Schmidt will bring seven women to run in their 6K race, including the top five finishers from the SEC championships.
“This is one of the best seasons we’ve had since the 1991 team,” Schmidt said. “Hopefully we can just finish it off.
“We’re hoping one of the other teams will make a mistake, and we’ll be there to pounce on it.”
Coach Steve Dudley and his men’s team have enjoyed the biggest jump in the South Region standings this week.
They are now ranked sixth going into the regionals meet.
“I am very pleased with how the team ran at the SEC championships,” Dudley said. “We want to be higher than sixth, but that would still be the highest finish ever for the team.”
Both teams will compete Saturday morning with the women’s 6K race beginning at 10 a.m. and the men running their 10K race at 11 a.m.