XC Heads to Tallahassee for NCAA South Regionals

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss Cross Country team is headed further south to Tallahassee, Fla. for the NCAA South Regionals. Florida State is the host school.

Traveling to the South Regionals are Kate Mattox, Emma Kate Holdbrooks, Monika Gebarzewska, Sandra Szpott, Lina May, Theresa Harto, and Regen McGee. They will compete in the women's 6k, which will begin at 8:30 am at Apalachee Regional Park.

Quotable – Aaron Kindt
"Coming off the Conference Championship meet this team has rebounded well. This is the strongest this team has looked from their training, workouts and their overall fitness. This will be the biggest meet for us as there are several nationally-ranked teams and it will be the biggest in both quality and quantity of teams. It will be hard to find our way into the Top-10 but it's been the goal all year for us. They will need to be firing on all cylinders to get there but we've been coming into our own for a while now. They are mentally and physically ready for this 6k and several of them have seen the course before."

Last Time Out
Southern Miss is coming off a two-week practice period after returning to Hattiesburg from the Conference USA Championships, held by Florida Atlantic on Oct. 27 in Boca Raton.

The Golden Eagles came away finishing fourth-place and with three members on All-Conference teams. Sandra Szpott ran with the leading pack for four miles, finishing 10^thwith a time of 17:25.83. Kate Mattox wasn't far behind her teammate, finishing with a time of 17:47.65 in the 15^thspot. Emma Kate Holdbrooks and Monika Gebarzewska were only three seconds apart, finishing 20^thand 22^nd, respectively. Lina May rounded out the top-25 finishers, finishing 24^thwith a time of 18:12.70.

Szpott was named Second Team All-Conference, Kate Mattox and Emma Kate Holdbrooks were named to the Third Team.

Rankings
The Golden Eagles are ranked No. 10 in the South Region polls from week six (Oct. 29). Southern Miss was ranked No. 10 in the preseason as well as week one polls, then rose to No. 9 for weeks two and three, and have remained at No. 10 since week four.

Currently, below Southern Miss (No. 4 in C-USA) in the rankings are Alabama (No. 9 in SEC), Mississippi State (No. 12 in SEC), Chattanooga (No. 2 in SoCon), FIU (No. 6 in C-USA), and Samford (No. 3 in SoCon). Conference member Middle Tennessee sits just above the Golden Eagles at No. 9 (No. 2 in C-USA).

The Competition
Set to run are 38 teams who fall in the South Region for the NCAA. Southern Miss will be a part of over 270 runners present at the race. Schools from various conferences will be taking part.

XC Heads to Tallahassee for NCAA South Regionals

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Players Mentioned

Monika Gebarzewska

Theresa Harto

Emma Kate Holdbrooks

Kate Mattox

Lina May

Regen McGee

Sandra Szpott