AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn cross country team will compete at the 2024 Southeastern Conference Championships on Friday morning in Bryan-College Station, Texas at the Watts Cross Country Course. The women will kick off the meet in the 6k at 9:05 a.m. CT followed by the men’s 8k at 9:45 a.m. CT.
A total of 19 Tigers are ready to compete for the conference’s top honors with five freshmen who will be running in their first SEC cross country championships.
“This is the part of the year we’ve prepped for all through the off season,” Auburn cross country coach Aaron Kindt said. “I’m really excited about where we are with both groups. I think we’re coming in healthy, not over raced or overtrained. Both groups are primed for a strong finish at the end.”
At the 2023 SEC Championships, the men finished fifth overall while the women took eleventh.
Leading the way for the men this season has been SEC Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, senior Ryan Kinnane and freshman Nickson Chebii. Kinnane and Chebii have been the top two finishers for the Tigers in both meets the men have competed in this season.
The men had a strong season opener at the Gans Creek Classic, where they claimed third overall behind Kinnane’s PR-worthy performance in the 8k (23:10.30).
Kinnane earned all-SEC honors the previous two years after finishing ninth in 2023 and 11th in 2024.
“For the men, it’s going to be a dog fight,” Kindt said. “If you run this meet 10 times, you get completely different results from the third to the ninth spot as teams. We could run really well and get ninth. This is going to turn into a meet of who can dig down the deepest and keep their composure.”
Kinnane and Chebii will be joined by seniors Fuji Anday, Cooper Atkins, Carson Bedics and Hayden Judge, junior Joseph Perry and sophomore Max Hardin.
“For our group, we’re trying to improve off last year,” Kindt said. “I think if we have an amazing perfect day, a top three finish is possible.”
On the women's side, freshman standout Brenda Jepchirchir has led the way, earning two meet victories for the Tigers this season. Jepchirchir won the women’s 6k “B” race at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals and was selected at the SEC Women’s Runner of the Week for her performance at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
“With the women, I felt like the last couple of years, we’ve gotten off to a really good start in the regular season then got to the SEC meet and run into bad luck,” Kindt said. “I’m a big believer that you’ve got to create your own luck.”
Coach Kindt is excited to get seniors Samantha Rogers and Hallie Porterfield back on the course for the conference championships. Rogers was all-SEC in 2022 after a 15th-place finish.
Jepchirchir, Rogers and Porterfield will run alongside junior Gené Coetzee, sophomores Shelby Balding, Audrey Dunn, Cady McPhail and Ava McIntosh and freshman Camila Gomes, Mary Malone and Alexandra Walsh.
“Our conference is pretty stacked,” Kindt said. “If we’re in the mix with those top six, top seven teams, I think that’s an exceptional, amazing, awesome day. We’re looking to improve off what we’ve done the last couple of years.”
All 16 schools in the conference will compete, except the men from South Carolina and Mississippi State. The Arkansas men and Florida women won the title last year while Arkansas leads all programs with 28 men’s titles and 22 women’s titles.
Live results can be found at flashresults.com and the SEC Network will televise the championships live.
Up Next
The Tigers will travel to Tallahassee, Florida for the NCAA South Regionals on Friday, November 15 at the Apalachee Regional Park.