ETSU Cross Country traveled to Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Nov. 12, for the NCAA South Regional race.
“We came close to hitting our team goals. I was hoping our men would be top ten, which they were. They finished 10th. Women, the goal was to be 15th, so one spot out, not too far out of it. Overall, we obtained what we were looking for I think,” said head coach George Watts.
The men placed 10th out of 25 and the women placed 16th out of 32.
Senior Lindsey Stallworth (Knoxville, Tenn.) placed eighth in the individual race with a time of 19:59.84, clocking a new PR by 44 seconds and earning her spot in the NCAA Championship race for the second year in a row.
“I’m pretty proud just looking at where I was coming in at, and what I’ve learned from my coaches and from being on this team,” says Stallworth. “I feel like I’ve developed as an athlete overall, significantly since coming here.”
The University of Mississippi team came in first with 69 points and Florida State in second with 86 points. The University of Alabama came in third with 99 points and had junior Mercy Chelangat (Kericho, Kenya) place first in the individuals.
“Lindsey had a good race plan and stuck with it. She was running up against a pretty elite field of runners, and it was one of those things where she had to get out probably a little faster than she has been during the season,” said coach Watts. “She got right out and ran with them. She set a school record, a personal best over 6K distance, that’s kind of what she had to do if she was going to have a chance to qualify.”
Stallworth is the only Buccaneer advancing to the NCAA Championship race taking place Saturday, Nov. 20, in Tallahassee, Fla. at 10:20 a.m.
“I kind of know what to expect a little more. It was so new last time at that race, now I can kind of visualize what it was like my first time around. I can kind of expect a similar atmosphere this time, and I think having that is going to be really nice going into this weekend,” said Stallworth.
The race last year took place in Oklahoma, and this year is at Florida State University, a place Stallworth has run before.
“It helps because I can begin to develop a plan in my mind of how I should tackle this course and this race. Which is really helpful because I like to visualize a lot, so having already been to the course the ability to kind of know what it looks like and remember how it felt to run on that course really helps in visualizing what I’m going to want to do this weekend,” said Stallworth.
