Blue Raider Men Set to Compete in National Championship

Saturday, November 23

Terre Haute, IN

11:00 AM

Middle Tennessee

NCAA Championships

11/22/2019 11:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country and Track & Field, Women's Cross Country and Track & Field, Track & Field/Cross Country

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The No. 13-ranked Blue Raider men's cross country team is set to compete in the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Division I Championship Saturday morning in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted by No.16 Indiana.

Race Details
NCAA Division I Championship
Course: LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
November 23, 2019

Men's Race (10K) 11:15 a.m. CT

Click HERE for live results.

Season at a Glance
The Blue Raider men's team jumped two more spots in the week seven USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll to No. 13, the highest ranking in program history. They have continued to climb in the rankings since the start of the season, when they were placed at No. 26 after week one. The Blue Raiders have finished first in five meets out of six this season, including the Memphis Twilight Classic, Commodore Classic, the Greater Louisville Classic, the Arturo Barrios Invitational and the Conference USA Championships in Bowling Green, Ky, when both the men and women claimed titles. Most recently, the men and women competed in the NCAA South Region Championships where the men finished second to move on to the National Championship, and the women finished 11^th.

Jacob Choge and Kigen Chemadi continue to rank nationally, with Choge remaining at No. 8 and Chemadi at No. 9 in the FloTrack Rankings. The Kenyan duo have placed Top-3 in every meet this season, including the Conference USA Championships, when they finished first and second, and the NCAA South Regional where they placed second and fourth overall.

The Opposition
The Blue Raiders will race against 30 other men's teams Saturday morning, 18 of which automatically qualified after the NCAA Regionals. Some of those schools include No. 1 Northern Arizona who won the title in 2018, Colorado who moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 after the Regionals and No. 9 Ole Miss who finished ahead of Middle Tennessee in the South Region Championship.

Vroman's Thoughts
"Last week, the goal was to be top two so that we could make sure we made it to the dance," said head coach Keith Vroman. "The guys are excited to see what they can do now. The goal all season has been to be in the Top 10 and they will get a shot at it on Saturday. All the hard work comes down to one 30 minute race on Saturday. It's time to dig deep and get it done."

Follow Us
Keep up with Blue Raider cross country this fall on Facebook (Middle Tennessee Blue Raider XC/Track & Field), Twitter (@MT_TrackField) and Instagram (@mt_trackfield).