Sun Belt Cross Country Championship Meet Notes.pdf

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's and women's cross country teams will open up postseason competition this weekend when they compete at the Sun Belt Conference Championships hosted by Appalachian State on Saturday morning.

The championship meet held at the State Farm Fields-Kennedy Trails will begin with the women's 5k at 8 a.m. (CT) and will then be followed by the men's 8k at 8:45 a.m. (CT).  Live stats and video can be accessed at www.sunbeltsports.org.

MEET INFORMATION
Date: 10/28
Meet (Host Institution): Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships (Appalachian State)
Place: State Farm Fields-Kennedy Trails (Boone, N.C.)  
Live Stats: sunbeltsports.org/sports/2017/8/16/17-mwxc-champ.aspx#
Video: sunbeltsports.org/sports/2017/8/16/17-mwxc-champ.aspx#

THE FIELD
WOMEN – 5K – 12 TEAMS
Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Little Rock, Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, ULM, UTA

MEN – 8K – 10 TEAMS
Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Little Rock, Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, ULM, UTA

AT THE LINE FOR THE JAGUARS
WOMEN – 5K
-Kailee Kiminski (Jr., Esko, Minn.)
-Laura Labuschaigne (Jr., Durbanville, Western Cape, South Africa)
-Carolien Millenaar (Fr., Sogard, Denmark)
-Susanna Pudner (Fr., Auburn, Ala.)
-Gillianne Sharp (So., Huntsville, Ala.)
-Nicole Van Der Merwe (Fr., Alberton, Gauteng, South Africa)

MEN – 8K
-Luke Fielding (So., Tauranga, New Zeland)
-Phillip Friedlander (Sr., Mobile, Ala.)
-Dylan Pausic (So., Dylan Pausic)
-Warno Potgeiter (Fr., Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa)
-Ben Rolader (Jr., Auburn, Ala.)
-John Paul Rumore (Fr., Hoover)
-Migael Strydom (Fr., Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa)

NOTES
- The South Alabama men will be in search of their ninth conference team title, while the women will be seeking their fifth.
- The Jaguar men last accomplished that feat back during the 2014 season, while the South women won the title in 2015.
- Junior runner Laura Labuschaigne has led the South Alabama women in every race this season – including two first-place finishes – and in each of South's last eight meets.   Dating back to last season, Labushcaigne has finished inside the top 30 in seven of her last eight races.
- Labuschaigne has won all-conference honors in each of her previous two SBC Championship events, earning first-team honors last season with a fourth-place finish, while she earned second-team honors as a freshman in 2015.
- Sophomore Gillianne Sharp finished 20th at last year's conference meet, which was the fourth fastest time among Sun Belt freshmen runners.
- Freshmen runners Carolien Millenar and Nicole Van Der Merwe have been the number two and three runners, respectively, for the Jag women in all three races this season.
- Laura Martin (1997) is the last Jaguar woman to win a Sun Belt individual title.
- The Jaguar women are coming off an 18th-place finish at the Crimson Classic on Oct. 13.
- The South Alabama men are also coming off an impressive showing as they placed 15th out of 26 teams at the Crimson Classic.
- Freshman Warno Potgieter has led the men in each of the last two races and is coming off a 32nd-place finish in his last outing.  Potgieter also holds a pair of top 10 finishes this season.
- Fellow freshman Migael Strydom also holds a pair of top 10 finishes this fall, coming in fourth at the Azalea City Classic during the opening weekend of competition and ninth at the Greater Louisville Classic.
- Sophomore Luke Fielding recorded a top 100 finish at the Crimson Classic as he placed 98th with a time of 26:21.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Parker Cowles
- On expectations for the women's field: "The women have been undefeated against six Sun Belt teams in head to head competition this year. I do not expect anything to change, but we have not raced Appalachian State, who I believe is the pre-race favorite.  App State presents a few challenges as they will be running mostly junior and senior athletes and have no freshmen on their varsity roster.  They are very deep through seven, and because of their experience they consistently race well.  They are also the home team, at altitude, which is an environment we are unfamiliar with."
- On what the women need to do to be successful: "The women need to be patient on Saturday.  Without giving away too much, I am looking for these young ladies to be measured and precise and be aggressive at the right times.  You can bet on App State having a great team race, so we need to be at our best."
- On the men's race: "The men's race has a lot of parity.  UTA, Texas State, Appalachian State, Louisiana and Troy are very good squads but I like to think we can compete with those teams.  We lost to Troy and Louisiana at different points in the season.  Louisiana beat us up front with some terrific front runners, so we will need our four and five runners in front of theirs.  Troy was the opposite; they have the tightest pack time in the conference.  To have a shot against them we will need some dominating performances out of our front two.
"Because of the conference depth I think a team scores in the low 100 range will place well.  For us to score that low we will need to be very strong top to bottom; the top 5 must perform and we have no room for error."
- On the men's team building off of their last race: "The Crimson Classic was a difficult course and as a result I asked the men's team to get out conservatively and then work up the pack.  We ended up going out a little too far back for my liking.  Kennedy Farms is also a fairly challenging course, and the men will certainly need to be deliberate over the five miles, but this is a conference championship.   I will be looking for the men to be closer to the front as a team, while hopefully maintaining the ability to attack aggressively over the last two miles of the race."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Finish Line Club, the track and field and cross country specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All donations to the Finish Line Club go directly to support the South Alabama track and field/cross country programs.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/finishlineclub.

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