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The Official Website of the Southeastern Conference

Five SEC XC teams earn automatic NCAA bids

394 days ago
SEC Staff
Photo: SEC/Thomas Graning

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Nov. 11, 2022) ----- Five Southeastern Conference cross country teams earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships by placing in the top-two of their respective NCAA Regionals on Friday.

Three SEC men's teams and two women's teams earned automatic bids. The Arkansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee men's teams finished in the top two, while the Alabama and Arkansas women's teams were also automatic qualifiers. The NCAA Championships will be held Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla.

Eighteen teams automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships by finishing as one of the top two teams at any of the nine regional races. The remaining 13 at-large teams for the final site are selected by the NCAA Division I Cross Country Subcommittee. Thirty-six individuals automatically qualify for the championships races by being one of the top four regional finishers not on an advancing team. Two additional individuals are selected at large by the committee.

The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Selection Show will air Saturday at 4 p.m. CT on NCAA.com. The at-large selections will be announced at that time.

The Arkansas men's and women's team placed first in the South Central Regional, while the Alabama women and Tennessee men were first in the South Regional. The Ole Miss men finished second in the South Regional.

Other SEC teams finishing in the top-five of the NCAA Regionals include: Alabama Men (3rd, South Region); Ole Miss women (3rd, South Region); LSU women (3rd, South Central Region); Texas A&M women (4th, South Central Regional); Auburn Men (5th, South Region); and Tennessee women (5th, South Region).

Individually, Florida's Parker Valby placed first in the Women's South Regional with a time of 19:17.20, Alabama's Victor Kiprop placed first in the Men's South Regional with a time of 29:21.20, Arkansas' Isabel Van Camp placed first in the Women's South Central Regional with a time of 20:01.90, and Arkansas' Patrick Kiprop finished first in the Men's South Central Regional in 30:04.90.