Cross Country Preview: NCAA South Region Championships – Memphis Official Athletic Site

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For the third time in the last four years, the University of Memphis cross country team finishes its campaign in Tallahassee, Fla., at the NCAA South Region Championships. The 2019 event is set for Friday, Nov. 15 at Apalachee Regional Park.
 
This year, it’s a reversal of roles for the Tigers as the women’s squad runs at full strength and the men’s team takes only a portion of its roster. In 2018, the men competed with a full roster and the women’s team took only two runners.
 
The Tigers men’s team, ranked No. 14 in the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region poll, enters the regional race with depleted numbers due mostly to a recent flu bug. The Memphis women’s squad, which was represented by only Kristen Adams and Paige Sandwell a year ago, takes its top seven runners to Friday’s championships.
 
2019 NCAA South Region Championships Schedule

 
Head coach Kevin Robinson comments
“I’m optimistic that we have the opportunity to close the season on a high note. We’re only taking two male runners as we had the flu bug sweep through the men’s team in addition to a couple of injuries we suffered at the conference race (Nov. 1). We’re not sending the full men’s team so that we can get them ready for the track and field season.
 
“Payton and Zach (from the men’s team) have been to this regional race before. For the women’s race, we’re sending a lot of young runners who have never raced at this level. It’s good for them to see an NCAA-caliber meet and run against top-level NCAA competition. It will be a very good learning experience, and I’m hoping they’ll step up, rise to the challenge and not be in awe of who we’re racing against. We want to go in, execute and run our race.”
 
(On the men’s first 10k of the season)
“This distance favors Payton because he’s a pure distance guy. He’s one of those runners that gets better the longer the race goes. He has an opportunity to run really well. I expect Zach to run well too. This distance is a little out of Zach’s comfort zone, but he’s a tough competitor. He’ll dig in and put it all on the line.”
 
Tigers Tidbits

• Friday’s NCAA South Region Championships is the first time the Tigers women have run as a full team at a regional race since 2016.
• In that 2016 appearance as a full women’s squad, Memphis ran Florida State’s Apalachee Regional Park and garnered the highest regional finish in program history, placing 10^thoverall. The Tigers also had two runners – Martina Rodriguez Sala and Chelsea Ladd – post top-20 finishes and earn NCAA All-South Region honors.
• Senior Gabrielle Byndas is making the first NCAA South Region Championships appearance of her career Friday. Byndas has had a tremendous senior campaign, setting personal-bests in both the 5k and 6k in 2019. She had two top-15 performances and also improved her finish at the American Athletic Conference Championships by 22 spots from the previous year.
• Senior Paige Sandwell runs in her fourth-straight NCAA South Region Championships Friday. In the 2017 championships, she ran a then personal-best 22:03.4 before breaking that earlier this season.
• The other five women runners – Brooke Calvo, Chloe Figgins, Brooke Mussche, Solstice Saliba and Chablis Shreffler – are making their first postseason appearances Friday.
• Chablis Shreffler is making a homecoming – of sorts – Friday. The freshman is traveling back to run in her home state of Florida. Shreffler is from Leesburg, Fla., which is about a one-hour drive northwest of Orlando.
• On the men’s side, sophomores Payton Gleason and Zachary Wyatt are the only two runners representing the Tigers.
• Payton Gleason and Zachary Wyatt both ran on the same course in last year’s regional race.
• Payton Gleason and Zachary Wyatt helped Memphis to a 15^th-place team finish in 2018. The team wrapped up the year ranked No. 15 in the final USTFCCCA South Region poll.

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