The ETSU cross country team competed on Nov. 15 in Tallahassee, Florida, at Apalachee Regional Park for the NCAA South Regionals. ETSU finished 23 of 27, qualifying them for the NCAA Championship.
“Although we did not place higher than last year, I feel we are a better team,” said head coach George Watts from the athletics site.
On the men’s side, junior Ben Varghese (Kingsport, Tennessee) qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship for the second year in a row after coming in fifth place at 30:12.5 on the 10K course, making this his 12th career top-five finish.
Last year, Varghese qualified for the NCAA championship placing 177 in the largest field he competed in the season.
Varghese was 21st at the 3,000m mark, 19th place halfway through and 7th at 1,000m. He finished the race 14 seconds ahead of Lipscomb’s Brent Leber, who was the first non-individual qualifier in the race.
Senior Adam Bradtmueller (Sarasota, Florida) placed 28 with a time of 31: 14.9. Junior Noah Charles (Johnson City, Tennessee) placed 57 with a time of 31:52.1. Junior Matt Scarr (Wamberal, NWS, Astralia) and redshirt junior Malick Gemechu (Johnson City, Tennessee) placed 78 and 97.
The men finished in 10th place with 259 points.
Junior Heather Feuchtenberger (Elizabethton, Tennessee) led the women’s side of things by finishing the 6K in 22:29.9, with sophomore Genevieve Schwarz (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) close on her heels at 22:34.1
Overall, the Blue and Gold finished 23rd in the race.
Host team Florida State won the team regional with 42 points. Alabama claimed the other three individual qualifying spots for the NCAA championship. Ole Miss and MTSU got their spots in the two team qualifying spots, as Ole Miss won by 14 points over MTSU at 69-83.
The 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
