SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Anderson's men's cross country team clinched a spot to the NCAA National Championships in dramatic style on Saturday morning, winning the tiebreaker against Flagler to secure the lone third-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships to punch their ticket to Nationals in two weeks.
"I am really proud of how our guys battled back in the second half of the race," said Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Kevin Eagle. "We dug ourselves in a giant hole and had to make up a lot of ground to place 3rd."
The top three finishing teams at each NCAA Regional Championships qualifies for the NCAA National Championships. Anderson finished the race with a team score of 102, deadlocked with Flagler, as the sum of each team's five scoring runners amounted to 102. The Trojans finished on the scoreboard with 7th, 12th, 16th, 33rd and 34th place counting towards the team score, while the Saints rounded out the race claiming the 15th, 17th, 21st, 24th, and 25th positions.
To determine which team would earn the sole third-place finish, thus clinching a spot to the Nationals, it came down to comparing the place of each of Anderson's scoring members versus their respective competitors from Flagler. Anderson won the tiebreak, winning three of the five comparisons.
"The men listened well throughout the race and did exactly what they needed to do to advance to the National Championships," added Eagle. "We know what we need to correct, and we will be ready in two weeks."
Leading the Trojans on the course was Elliot Dotson (Greenville, S.C.) who broke the standing school record with a personal best 10k time of 29:38. Following closely behind were Spain Vaughan (Greer, S.C.) and William Cronin (Lexington, S.C.), who also posted personal best times of 30:21 and 30:53 respectively. Placing within the Top-25, Dotson, Vaughan and Cronin earned All-Region honors.
Rounding out the scoring for Anderson were Angel Galan (Santa Marta De Tormes, Spain), who competed for the first time in seven weeks due to injury, and Ty Nelson (Moore, S.C.), who tied his PR time of 31:42.
Finishing 40th overall was Joey Tindale (Rock Hill, S.C.) with a time of 31:59, while David Williams (Irmo, S.C.) finished 59th on the leaderboard with a time of 33:02. In a field of 200 athletes, all seven Trojans finished within the Top-60.
The Black and Gold enter the final homestretch of the season, traveling to Sacramento, Calif. for the NCAA Division II National Championships on Nov. 23.
