The Mississippi State University men’s and women’s cross country teams both competed in the SEC championships last Friday in Nashville. Neither team was predicted to finish in the top 10, yet both did.
The Lady Bulldogs finished with 259 points, which earned them a 10th place finish, and the men finished with 237 points, which placed them eighth.
In a news release, head coach Houston Franks said he was OK with the finish but his team had higher aspirations.
“It’s nice to finish higher than we were picked, but that’s far from our aspirations and how good I think we can be,” Franks said.
In the women’s 6K, senior and team leader Renee Masterson led the way for the Bulldogs. She finished with a time of 21:46:47, which was the best of anyone on the team and 34th overall at the tournament among the women.
In a news release, Masterson said SEC competition is very tough and also shared her coach’s point of view that the team could have done better.
“The SEC has a lot of fierce competition, and the difference between being fifth and 10th as a team is just a matter of a few points,” Masterson said. “We gave it our all, but we didn’t execute the race exactly how we wanted.”
For the men it was junior Cameron Vernier leading the way with a time of 25:09:38 in the 8K, which was 41st overall among the guys.
Senior Phillip Johnson, who is one of the leaders for the men’s team, finished fourth for the team and 51st overall at the tournament.
Johnson said he shared a feeling of unsatisfaction, despite the top 10 finish.
“I was proud of my team for moving ahead of our preseason ranking, but none of us are satisfied,” Johnson said. “I have not raced incredibly well on an individual level, but our team has worked together very well to take care of business at most of the meets this season.”
Both the men’s and women’s team had only one senior as top finishers in the race, so most of the team’s best runners will be back next season, which bodes well for the future of the program.