Alabama Cross Country Women Win NCAA South Regional, Men Finish Third

The Crimson Tide women earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, while the men are looking for an at-large bid

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Alabama women’s cross country team won the 2022 NCAA South Regional Championships at the John Hunt Running Park Friday morning, securing an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA Championships, while the men took third and are looking for an at-large bid to nationals.

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The Alabama women opened the day with an absolutely dominant performance, putting its first four runners in the top five, its scoring five in the top 20 and all seven runners in the top 50. The women scored 34 points to finish 54 points ahead of second-place Florida State.

Led by Victor Kiprop’s NCAA South Regional title, the Alabama men took third place with 73 points, just four points behind second-place Ole Miss. With the top-two teams advancing automatically to the NCAA Championships, the UA men will be looking for an at-large bid when the NCAA Cross Country Selection Show streams on Saturday.

The NCAA Division I Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Selection Show will air Saturday, November 12th at 5 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.

Alabama Head Coach Dan Waters Said

“Our women did an outstanding job today. They shut the door on the rest of the field early on and ran with confidence throughout. This is the first regional title for the women since 1986 and they won it in style. The men had a tough time today, but we feel like our body of work throughout the season should be enough for an at-large bid to nationals. With just the NCAA Championships ahead of us, we’re looking to close this great season off strong.”

The Women’s Race

• The Crimson Tide went 2-3-4-5-20 to tally 34 points for the win, bettering second-place Florida State by 54 points
• It was the fourth NCAA regional title for the UA women and first since 1986
• Amaris Tyynismaa (19:35.1), Hilda Olemomoi (19:35.3) and Mercy Chelangat (19:35.6) finished within half a second of one another, taking second, third and fourth, respectively
• Flomena Asekol (19:41.5) took fifth place to give UA a 2-3-4-5 run at the top of the lineup
• Elka Machan (20:21.5) took 20^th to round out Alabama’s scoring five and give UA the win
• Jami Reed (20:52.8) took 43^rd and Sam McDonnell (21:06.8) finished 49^th to put Alabama’s entire lineup in the top 50

The Men’s Race

• Alabama’s Victor Kiprop (29:21.20) won his fifth individual race of the season to lead the men to a third-place team finish with 73 points, just four points out of second place
• Kiprop closed extremely well, winning the individual title by seven seconds
• Hillary Cheruiyot (29:38.60) took eighth place for UA’s other top-10 finish
• Jacob Harris (30:01.40) took 15^th, while Eliud Kipsang (30:32.50) was 28^th and Brady Grant (30:50.80) took 34^th to round out Alabama’s scoring five
• Brady Barton (30:58.40) was 40^th and Will Pinson (31:47.20) took 81^st to finish off the Tide’s lineup