University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
NCAA Southeast Regionals
Cross Country Prepares for NCAA Southeast Regional Championships
11.14.2024 | Cross Country
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville cross country team is set to compete this Friday (Nov. 15) at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in Rock Hill, S.C.
Meet Information
The meet will be held at the Winthrop Farm course.
Women's 6k - 10:30 a.m. (Box No.13)
Men's 10k - 11:30 a.m. (Box No.8)
The results for both races can be found here. Live splits at each mile will be posted. To view the course maps, click here.
The top two teams from each region automatically advance to next week's NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. The DI Cross Country Subcommittee will select 13 additional teams at large, and the first four regional finishers not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team will also be selected for the championships.
Men's Lineup:
Adam HesslerQuinn Jacquez
Paul Kiprotich
Jan Málek
Jonas Roach
Tadiyos Sloan-Westmoreland
Nate Sullivan
Women's Lineup:
Addi CorlAlison Graf
Aneta Kucerová
Sophie Lundin
Ella Moore
Isabel Richardson
Madeline Wittschen
Regional Rankings
Asheville will compete against 50 other schools across five states (Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia).
On the men's side, Wake Forest is leading the region ahead of the Championships, with North Carolina and Virginia in close contention for the top three team finishes. For the second time this season, Asheville will race alongside Furman (ranked fourth) and App State (ranked 11th). The event was won by North Carolina last year with 37 points.
North Carolina is the regional favorite on the women's side, followed by Virginia and NC State. Asheville will compete against Furman (fourth), High Point (11th), and South Carolina (14th), who are familiar faces this season. The event was won by NC State last year with 52 points.
Full Team Entries
Appalachian State, Bellarmine, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Davidson, Duke, East Carolina, Elon, Eastern Kentucky, Furman, Gardner-Webb, George Mason, Hampton, High Point, James Madison, Kentucky, Liberty, Longwood, Louisville, Morehead State, Murray State, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, Northern Kentucky, Presbyterian, Radford, Richmond, South Carolina, South Carolina State, Southern Indiana, The Citadel, UNC Asheville, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greensboro, USC Upstate, Virginia, VCU, VMI, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Western Carolina, Western Kentucky, William and Mary, Winthrop, Wofford.
Conference Recap
Asheville last competed in the Big South Championships on Nov. 1. The men finished third (8K), and the women finished fourth (5K).
The men's team was front-runned by senior Adam Hessler, who earned a second-place finish with his time of 24:06.8. Hessler's 8K time set broke the school record by 10 seconds, putting Hessler at the top of the record book for both the 8K and 10K. His second-place finish is his highest finish in league history and marks his third All-Big South honor after placing fourth in 2023 and sixth in 2022.
Paul Kiprotich was named Freshman of the Year following his third-place finish at 24:16.8. He joined Hessler on the All-Conference First Team and became the first Freshman of the Year recipient in 25 years for Asheville.
The duo of Hessler and Kiprotich have both turned in strong performances this season, with Hessler finishing in the top 10 in every race and Kiprotch stacking back-to-back third-place finishes at both the Upstate Invite and the BCS Championship. They both have been recognized by the conference with weekly awards, as Hessler earned his third collegiate Runner of the Week award following his performance at the Furman Invitational (Sept. 14), and Kiprotich earned Freshman of the Week twice following his performances at Furman and USC Upstate.
Jan Málek secured a 10th-place finish in 24:46.4 to earn a spot on the All-Conference Second Team. This is Málek's second All-Conference accolade after placing seventh at last year's Championships.
Leading the charge for the women's team was Aneta Kucerová, who finished in 19th place with a time of 18:19.5. She was closely followed by Ella Moore, who came in 21st with a season's best of 18:25.7.
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Players Mentioned
