NCAA South Regional Page

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's and men's cross country teams will continue the postseason schedule when the two Jaguar teams head to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete at the NCAA South Regional held at the Apalachee Regional Park on Friday morning.

"It's a good course," South Alabama cross country head coach David Barnett said about this weekend's regional course.  "It's the same course that two years ago Christoph Graf qualified for nationals on and we've had teams run really well on it.  It's a fast course and I think it plays to our advantage."

The regional will get underway with women's 6k scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. (CT) with the men's 10k slated to begin an hour later.  Live results can be accessed HERE.

The top two teams from each region will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 19.  There will also be 13 at-large bids from around the nation.  In addition to the teams advancing, the top four finishers from each regional not on one of the advancing teams will also earn a berth at the championship meet as long as they finish with in the top 25 of the region.  Two additional athletes will be selected from the remainder of the national pool (and must have finished in the regional top 25) as at-large individuals.

The top-25 finishers on both the men's and women's side will earn all-region honors.

The South Region field includes 31 men's and 36 women's teams.  In the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (UTSFCCCA) region rankings, Mississippi holds top honors on both sides with regional host Florida State ranked third in the region on the men's side and 11th on the women's side.  The Rebels are also ranked nationally with the women coming in at 14th and the men in 11th.

For the second-straight meet, the South Alabama women will have their full complement of runners as Laura Labuschaigne, Ashley Heitling, Nicole Durham, Ivy Chastain, Gillianne Sharp, Kailee Kiminski and Abigail Cain are all scheduled to compete on Friday at the regional.

"I think the women's team has gotten better each week and at this week's meet, I think they will be as good if not better than they were at conference," Barnett said.  "They just need to make that continued improvement and mix it up with the program's that we should be mixing it up with so that we do either as good or better than we did at last year's regional."

The Jag women were 37 points shy of a top-10 finish at last season's South Regional.  JoAnna McCoy earned all-region honors with a 23rd-place finish to close out her cross country career at USA.

Labuschaigne has been South Alabama's top women's runner all fall as she has placed in the top 30 in every meet, while also posting three of top-15 finishes.  The sophomore began her second season with a first-place finish at the Azalea City Classic in the opening meet of the season and placed fourth at the SBC championships in her last outing.  Heitling was right behind her in fifth clocking a time of 17:53.3, which was a new personal best for the Mount Dora, Fla., native.  With their top-five placements, the duo picked up first-team all-league accolades, the second all-Sun Belt honors of both their careers.

Durham and Sharp also just missed third-team all-conference honors as they placed 19th and 20th, respectively, at the SBC Championships last month.

As a team, the Jaguar women placed third at the championship meet, while the men placed fifth.

The men's team will be led by the senior duo of Katleho Dyoyi and Nathan Riech.  Dyoyi placed third at the Azalea City Classic in USA's season opener and then earned first-team all-conference honors – his second all-SBC honor in as many seasons – at the Sun Belt Championships on Oct. 29 as he placed fifth with a time of 24:59.0.

Riech was South Alabama's top finisher in the two races that Dyoyi did not compete in during the fall.  Riech placed 65th out of 217 athletes at the Crimson Classic in the 8k with a time of 26:06 and just missed out on all-conference honors at the league championships where he placed 19th with a time of 25:55.2 in the 8k.

"Both Katelho and Nathan have worked really hard to get up to this point," Barnett said.  "They've been our top two guys this season and they've consistently been at the top in every race they've been in.  Hopefully they can have a solid race and compete well.  If they could get all-region honors that would be great, but we just want to have positive momentum as we head into the track season."

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).

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