This past weekend (11/13) Tom Sawyer State Park of Louisville held host to the one of the nine NCAA regional XC meets, this one being for the Southeast region. This meet was contested on a very firm and fast course which proved so in the times produced at the meet. The gentlemen raced over 10k featuring two loops around the 5k course they made and the women raced 6K. This meet featured many unique things that were excellent for spectators such as real time splits on a electronic display with name and splits at each marker, this was due to the chip timing. This meet was one of nine regional meets that the top two teams from each region would get an automatic bid along with the top four individual runners who were not on teams getting an invite. Along with this the top 25 of each race received all region honors.
For the Women’s race it was a decently close race for about 5K when Laura Hoer, a Freshman of NC State and ACC 2010 XC champion, made her move past Kendra Schaaf and Anna Nosenko to go onto a victory in 19:54. Schaaf of UNC was second in 20:02 and Nosenko of Wake Forest was third in 20:13. ACC runners and teams dominated this race with 5 of the top 5 were ACC schools with The Lady Cavaliers of Virginia leading the way with an impressive 65 points to win over UNC (100pts.).
Though the Women’s race was decently close throughout the race, the men’s race was well decided, as it seemed the seconds after the gun went off. The show was all about Samuel Chelanga a senior from Liberty (Virginia) who won the 10k impressively in 29:55. He led essentially the whole race and looked as if he was cruising to the line, he was however followed by his team mate Evans Kiger in 30:11. In third was Soufiane Bouchikhi a freshman at Eastern Kentucky who completed the 10k in 30:18. Fourth was Michael Eaton, a senior at Louisville running 30:20 and all four at least guaranteeing themselves a spot at NCAA DI XC Nationals with their performances. For the team race it was the William and Mary Tribe out of the Colonial Athletic Association with 85 points ahead of the Duke Blue Devils with 116.