BIRMINGHAM, Ala.– Five Southeastern Conference cross country teams will enter next week’s SEC Championships listed among the nation’s top-25 teams according to the most recent rankings released Tuesday.
In the women’s rankings, Alabama is ranked fifth, while Ole Miss is No. 11 and Arkansas is No. 15. Arkansas is the highest-ranked SEC men’s squad at No. 6, while Alabama is No. 22. Ole Miss is just outside the top-25 at No. 28.
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A look back Eight SEC teams competed in the Pre-Nationals Invitational last week in Tallahassee, Fla. The Arkansas men placed third with 128 points in a field that included 12 nationally-ranked teams. Alabama placed ninth, while Ole Miss was 11th. In the women’s 6k, Ole Miss was the top-SEC finisher at No. 4, while Arkansas was No. 12. Individually, Victor Kiprop paced the Alabama men with a third-place finish, while Lauren Gregory finished runner-up to lead the Razorback women.
Texas A&M and LSU competed at the Arturo Barrios Invitational last week in College Station, with the Tigers claiming a fourth-place finish in the men’s 8k followed by the Aggies in fifth. In the women’s 6k, Texas A&M was fourth, while LSU was seventh.
In other action, the Vanderbilt women won the Blazer Classic, while the Commodore men placed fourth. Missouri competed in the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis., South Carolina finished fourth in the Pirate Invitational and Mississippi State was 11th at the Princeton Invitational.
SEC Championships on deck All 14 SEC schools will use this week to recover prior to the SEC Championships next week. The University of Missouri will serve as host of the SEC Cross Country Championships for the first time. The men’s 8k and women’s 6k will take place at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course Friday, Oct. 29 in Columbia, Mo. The men’s race is scheduled to begin at 10:05 a.m. CT, followed by the women’s race at 11 a.m. CT. Both races will be televised live on SEC Network.
