By Ben Everett | Sports Writer
The Baylor cross country team competes in the South Central Regional Championship starting at 9:15 a.m. Friday in College Station.
The Bears will compete against 28 other teams from the South Central Region, including teams from Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The men’s team is coming off of a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship, while the women finished fifth at the same event.
Sophomore Devin Meyrer earned All-Big 12 honors after placing 12th in the 8,000-meter men’s race at the Big 12 Championships, but it was not enough to place the team in the top five.
Meyrer said the team was disappointed in the performance because he knows how talented the team is.
“We had a lot of things not line up that day,” Meyrer said. “Which is a bummer because, according to what Coach keeps telling me, this is one of the most talented teams we’ve had.”
The men’s team is ranked sixth in the South Central region, while the women come in at fourth.
The top two placing teams in the Regional Championship are awarded an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, along with the four best individual performances. All other teams are subject to at-large selection by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Head coach Todd Harbour said he has confidence in both teams to compete at a high level.
“I like our team and I like the shot that we have,” Harbour said. “We know we’re going to race hard out front. They’re going to have to get after it. We have a good shot at it. We’ve just got to put it together.”
All Big 12 performers sophomore Anna West and junior Lindsey Bradley headline the group of seven runners that will race in the 6,000-meter women’s race on Friday. Sophomore Gabby Satterlee, freshman Brooke Gilmore, freshman Sarah Antrich, sophomore Alison Andrews-Paul, freshman Madelaine Johnston and sophomore Hana Marsheck will also compete for the women’s team.
Meyrer, senior Eric Anderson, freshman T.J. Sugg, senior Matt Parham, graduate student Jordan West, senior Sam Sahli, junior Sean McCullough and freshman Jeremy Meadows will compete in the 10,000-meter men’s race.
Assistant coach Jon Capron said the men’s team is better suited for the 10,000-meter race, so he is expecting better results than the 8,000-meter race results from the Big 12 Championship.
“We’re a built a little bit more (for a 10k race),” Capron said. “I build these guys for this race. We’re hoping for a better performance. The 10K course is a lot more straight forward. You don’t mess around with it. It usually runs pretty true.”
If either team qualifies, they will compete in the NCAA Championships on Nov. 18 in Louisville, Ky.
