University of Southern Indiana Men’s Cross Country returns to a familiar site Saturday when it participates in the NCAA II Cross Country Championships at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana.
USI is one of 32 teams that qualified for the event that also features 27 individuals. The Screaming Eagles advanced to this year’s national championships after placing second of 28 teams at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships. Seniors Bastian Grau (Höchstadt, Germany) and Cain Parker (Petersburg, Indiana) led the Eagles with sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively.
At last year’s championships, the Eagles placed 13th in the 32-team field. Chase Broughton finished 27thand Noah Lutz 35th to earn All-American honors. Of the returners, junior Darin Lawrence (Indianapolis, Indiana) had the best finish of 98th.
This is the 13th consecutive year, and 25th overall, that the Eagles have qualified for the national championships. Their best finish is third back in 1982.
The Eagles moved up three spots to fifth in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
While the USI women did not earn one of eight at-large bids after a fifth-place finish at the Midwest Region Championships, junior Hope Jones (Cumberland, Indiana) received an at-large bid as an individual and will be one of 25 individuals competing amongst the 32 teams.
Jones finished sixth at the Midwest Region Championships, narrowly missing out on qualifying automatically. Jones finished 182nd at the national championships a year ago as USI placed fifth as a team.
The USI women’s team dropped one spot to 24th in the most recent USTFCCCA poll. The Eagles were the only ranked women’s team to not make the field.
The women’s 6k begins at 10:15 a.m. with the men’s 10k to follow at 11:30 a.m.
