KENNESAW, Ga. - Still riding high from their second straight Atlantic Sun Conference championship, the men’s cross country team will try and continue that momentum in the NCAA South Regional competition Saturday. Making the trip for the second straight season, the team will try to improve on their eighth place finish from 2009 while competing for an automatic bid to Nationals.

Having already raced on the Veterans Park course they will be seeing Saturday earlier in the year, the squad will have some stiffer competition the second time around. Competing in a tough region, they will have to fend off programs from Alabama, Florida, Florida State and Tennessee. The Owls will also be looked at as a team to beat, finishing the season ranked fifth in the South by USTFCCA.

“We didn't change much in our preparation for region,” head cross country coach Stan Sims said. “In the championship phase there's not much to be done to get faster but there's plenty you can do to get slower. We are in good company in the region. Everyone seems healthy so we will definitely be a ground force with our top seven guys.”

Seeing the course for the second time this season, the Owls will have a distinct advantage over some of the other schools on the unfamiliar course. This year is the first time the Regional meet will be held in Hoover, Ala. instead of its previous home of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Earlier this season, the team found great success during the Samford Invitational, placing first overall.

Senior Piotr Witczak lead the Owls with a first place finish in a time of 25:41 followed closely by teammates Jaakko Nieminen and Nabil Hamid in second and third, respectively. All of the top five runners finished in the top 10 during the race.

If the team was to finish as one of the top two teams this weekend, they will automatically be given a bid to Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 22. Outside of the top two finishers, a runner may qualify as an individual if they finish in top four of non-qualifying runners. For Witczak, it doesn’t matter where they finish but that they go out there and give it everything they got on Saturday.

“It has been a very long season but I think that the entire team is very motivated to race well and prove that the KSU Cross Country team has a lot of potential to be the best distance program in the state of Georgia,” Witczak said. “Because this is the most important race of the season, everyone expects to do their best. My personal goal for this weekend is to race the best I can, leave no regrets, and remember my last collegiate cross country race with satisfaction.”


Quick Facts

Event Name: NCAA South Region Championship

Event Date: Saturday, November 13, 2010

Host: Samford University

Location: Veterans Park

Start Time: 10:45 a.m. (Central)

Distance: 10k

2009 Owl Finish, Score: 8th, 283 points

2009 Owl Top Finishers: Hamid-23rd, 25:45

Teams Competing (32): Alabama, Auburn, Austin Peay, Belmont, Bethune-Cookman, Chattanooga, Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Memphis, Mercer, Miami, Middle Tenn. State, Miss. State, Miss. Valley, North Florida, Ole Miss, Samford, South Alabama, South Florida, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Martin, Troy, Vanderbilt