The Alabama women's cross country team narrowly missed qualifying for nationals at their Regional meet in Tallahassee this past weekend. I say "narrowly" meaning they were third and the top two teams qualify automatically. They finished third 135 to 53 behind FSU who lost by a point to Vandy.
It looks like Bama's Hannah Waggoner didn't qualify for nationals as an individual since she finished fifth individual not on a team that qualified and she needed to finish top four, but the NCAA can grant at-large bids to I think four individuals so she still has a chance. Not a good one, but a chance. I watched Hannah in high school, and I never would have dreamed she would have the kind of success she's having at Bama. I've dealt with Bama fairly often on the recruiting trail and was frankly surprised when she committed to Bama. The coaches knew what they were doing. She's been stellar, and she's only a sophomore. Lots of runners ahead of her two years ago haven't run well or at all in college - whatever the reason- be it injury, apathy, or burn-out. The women's squad has come a long way in a relatively short time. Maybe they can continue to improve.
The men finished 15th of 22 teams, and it's obvious they're a really bad team. In fact, this whole region is really, really bad, by far the worst region in the country. Lipscomb finished fourth behind Ole Miss, FSU, and Auburn. Lipscomb! Bama isn't committing resources to the distance portion of its track/cc budget for men, and it shows. Maybe they will have a fine track season, but it won't be with the help of distance points.
There are fine distance runners from the south, but they're getting out of the area. Furman has qualified with a team comprised of young men who ran within a couple of hours of Tuscaloosa. One went to Oklahoma and transferred back to Furman - much closer to home. Two of the others are from Brentwood near Nashville.
I'm well aware that the women's competition is much weaker than the men's, but come on. Bama has guys in their top five running 32 minutes for 10k. Really? At a university that seems to be making strides to compete in every single sport, that's unacceptable. How bad is it? They lost to Lipscomb. Lipscomb!
It looks like Bama's Hannah Waggoner didn't qualify for nationals as an individual since she finished fifth individual not on a team that qualified and she needed to finish top four, but the NCAA can grant at-large bids to I think four individuals so she still has a chance. Not a good one, but a chance. I watched Hannah in high school, and I never would have dreamed she would have the kind of success she's having at Bama. I've dealt with Bama fairly often on the recruiting trail and was frankly surprised when she committed to Bama. The coaches knew what they were doing. She's been stellar, and she's only a sophomore. Lots of runners ahead of her two years ago haven't run well or at all in college - whatever the reason- be it injury, apathy, or burn-out. The women's squad has come a long way in a relatively short time. Maybe they can continue to improve.
The men finished 15th of 22 teams, and it's obvious they're a really bad team. In fact, this whole region is really, really bad, by far the worst region in the country. Lipscomb finished fourth behind Ole Miss, FSU, and Auburn. Lipscomb! Bama isn't committing resources to the distance portion of its track/cc budget for men, and it shows. Maybe they will have a fine track season, but it won't be with the help of distance points.
There are fine distance runners from the south, but they're getting out of the area. Furman has qualified with a team comprised of young men who ran within a couple of hours of Tuscaloosa. One went to Oklahoma and transferred back to Furman - much closer to home. Two of the others are from Brentwood near Nashville.
I'm well aware that the women's competition is much weaker than the men's, but come on. Bama has guys in their top five running 32 minutes for 10k. Really? At a university that seems to be making strides to compete in every single sport, that's unacceptable. How bad is it? They lost to Lipscomb. Lipscomb!
