JONESBORO, Ark. (11/9/23) – Coveted spots in the NCAA Championships are on the line Friday in Fayetteville, as the Arkansas State cross country teams compete in the NCAA South Central Regional Championships.

Hosted at the Agri Park, the meet begins with the women’s 6K at 10:30 a.m., followed by the men’s 10K at 11:30 a.m. Admission is free.

HOW IT WORKS:
The top two finishing teams at the regional championships earn automatic bids to the 31-team NCAA Cross Country Championships (18 total nationally), with 13 at-large teams filling out the rest of the field based upon season results and regional finish.

Individually, the first four finishers at the regional championships who do not belong to an automatic qualifier or an at-large team automatically advance to the championships. However, all four must finish within the top 25 of their region. Altogether, 36 individuals automatically qualify and two at-larges are chose to total 38 individual selections. The two at-larges are the highest-placing runners at a regional who were not automatic qualifiers.

3 THINGS TO KNOW:

1.     WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS (AGAIN): Arkansas State’s women’s cross country team returned to the top of the podium at this year’s Sun Belt Conference Championships, winning for the fourth time in five seasons.

2.     AWARDS SZN: A pair of Red Wolves earned postseason honors from the Sun Belt Conference, with head cross country coach Jesse Duvall being named Women’s Coach of the Year and Rahel Broemmel earning Freshman of the Year laurels after a fourth-place finish.

3.     REGIONAL RANKINGS: Arkansas State is ranked among the top 10 in both South Central Regional rankings entering the championships on Friday. A-State’s men are seventh, while the women enter with the No. 9 ranking.

SOCIAL MEDIA

For the latest on the A-State track and field and cross country programs, follow @AStateTrack on Twitter and @Arkansas_State_Track on Instagram, while also liking the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/AStateTrackAndField.