NCAA DII South Region ChampionshipsNCAA DII Festival (Cross Country National Championships) JACKSON, Tenn. – The Union University men's and women's cross country teams will be competing in the NCAA Division II South Region Cross Country Championships this weekend with the University of Alabama Huntsville serving as the host. This will be the first NCAA Region Championships for Union since basketball and baseball teams played in NCAA region tournaments in the late 1960's.
Union head coach Gary Johnson says, "We are excited to be competing in the region meets this weekend, and representing Union as the first region competitors this year. We look to continue our momentum from the conference races and put forth our best efforts in the region race."
The Union women's cross country team will go into the race as the No. 3 ranked team in the South Region. Union opened the season in the fourth spot. After a few weeks, Union moved up to third in the region poll before moving as high as No. 2. However, after the No. 1 ranked region team was upset in their conference race (St. Leo over five time defending region champion Tampa), Union dropped to third in the final region poll. The Union ladies are coming off the school's first ever Gulf South Conference Title. Union will be the highest ranked GSC team in the women's field. Union's
Audrey Hazlehurst earned GSC First Team All-Conference honors, while
BethAnne Davis,
Lindsey Jakeman,
Janey Berends, and
Abby Berends were each named second team all-conference.
Janey Berends was named to the GSC All-Freshman team. Coach Johnson was named the GSC Women's Coach of the Year.
On the men's side, Union was ranked as high as No. 10 in the NCAA DII South Region poll this year. However, were not ranked in the final region poll. Union is coming off a sixth place finish in the conference meet in Birmingham two weeks ago.
Jacob Whitney and
Will Donelson were each earned spots on the GSC First Team All-Conference.
The 2014 NCAA DII South Region Championships will take place, Saturday, November 22 at Sharon Johnston Park in the town of New Market, Ala., just 18 miles from the UAH campus. The 10K men's race will start at 9 a.m. with the 6K women's race to follow at 10 a.m.
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