By Ben Everett | Sports Writer
Baylor men’s and women’s cross country finished ninth and third respectively at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships Saturday in College Station.
The top two teams on each side receive automatic bids to the NCAA Championships competition, as well as the top four runners for each non-qualifying team.
Sophomore Anna West and junior Lindsey Bradley took third and fourth place, respectively, in the women’s 6,000-meter race to qualify for the NCAA Championships. West posted a 19:40.0 and Bradley finished in 19:42.3 as both earned All-Region distinctions.
Sophomore Gabby Satterlee also earned All-Region distinction with a 20:33.07 time. Others who competed were freshman Brooke Gilmore, freshman Sarah Antrich, freshman Madelaine Johnston and sophomore Alison Andrews-Paul.
Head coach Todd Harbour said the team had their best performance of the season and, even though it wasn’t enough, they hope to make it back to the NCAA Championships as a team next year.
“I am very proud of the girls,” Harbour said. “Everyone had their personal best today. We had our fastest average for a 6K this season, but team wise it wasn’t quite good enough for us. I’m very proud of Gabby, who earned her first all-region performance today. Lindsey and Anna executed perfectly. They did a great job. We don’t have a senior on the squad, so it’s encouraging, we will try to make it back to the NCAA’s with this same squad next year.”
On the men’s side, sophomore Devin Meyrer took home All-Region distinction with a 30:13 time and ninth place finish in the 10,000-meter race. Meyrer finished fifth individually among the non-qualifying teams, falling one spot short of qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
The other participants in the men’s race were senior Matt Parham, senior Eric Anderson, graduate student Jordan West, senior Sam Sahli, freshman T.J. Sugg and freshman Jeremy Meadows.
Assistant head coach Jon Capron said the men’s team underperformed, but Meyrer continues to impress.
“It wasn’t our best day,” Capron said. “I was hoping to be a little higher at the end of it. Devin ran incredibly. It would have been nice to get him an at-large individual. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but we will see. He gave it everything he had. I’m happy with his performance.”
West and Bradley will compete individually at the NCAA Championships Nov. 18 in Louisville, Ky.
