CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Running Mocs will head to Birmingham, Ala., Saturday morning for the NCAA South Region Cross Country meet at Veterans Park.
The last time UTC ran the region meet at Veterans Park was in 1998 when the Mocs, led by three-time Southern Conference Runner of the Year Nic Crider, claimed the region title and became the first UTC to qualify for the NCAA National Championships.
Chattanooga, led by senior Emmanuel Kirwa (Kapsabet, Kenya), the only other three-time SoCon Runner of the Year, will try to see if history will repeat itself. Junior Chris Berry (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) and freshman Lucas Cotter (Collierville, Tenn.) turned in all-conference performances for the Mocs at the league championships with Cotter claiming SoCon Freshman of the Year honors.
The Mocs will need junior Josh Vasquez (Kingsport, Tenn.) and senior David Moore (Sarnia, Ontario) to step up for the Mocs, who are ranked eighth in the South Region, to have a shot at one of two spots for an automatic qualification.
Florida State and Alabama have held onto the top two spots in the rankings followed by Florida, Tennessee and Kennesaw State.
The women, led by all-conference performer senior Anneli Uys (Somerville, Australia) , are ranked 12th in the South Region standings after falling out briefly earlier this season. Senior Tara Gietema (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished 19th for the Lady Mocs at the league championships and senior Shelley Taylor (Cohutta, Ga.) was 25th in the results.
The women's 6K race will start at 10:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time followed by the men's 10K event at 11:45 a.m. Results will be available at GoMocs.com following the race and at cfpitiming.com.
