SEC cross country teams set for NCAA Championships

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Nov. 18, 2022)-----Six Southeastern Conference cross country teams will compete in the NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla.

The women's race is slated for a 9:20 a.m. CT start, while the men's will begin at 10:10 a.m. Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee will compete in the men's and race, while Alabama and Arkansas will compete in the women's race. A total of 31 teams will compete in the championship races for each gender.

Eight SEC runners qualified individually to the NCAA Championships: Parker Valby (Florida), Ryann Helmers (Ole Miss), Tori Herman (Kentucky) and Perri Bockrath (Kentucky) in the women's championship and Ryan Kinnane (Auburn) and Jonathan Chung (Texas A&M) in the men's championship.

The SEC has won eight NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships with Arkansas claiming seven and Tennessee winning one. The last SEC NCAA Championship came in 2000, with Arkansas winning its third consecutive crown.

The SEC has won two NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships with Kentucky winning in 1988 and Arkansas in 2019.

Alabama's Mercy Chelangat in the 2020-21 season became the second SEC runner to win the women's title after Missouri's Karissa Schweizer won the SEC's first women's NCAA cross country title in 2016.

The SEC boasts two NCAA Cross Country men's individual titles as Godfrey Siamusiye of Arkansas won back-to-back national crowns in 1995 and 1996.

Both races Saturday will be televised live on ESPNU.