AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn cross country team will compete at the Southern Showcase, hosted by Jacksonville State at the John Hunt Cross Country Park in Huntsville, Alabama on Friday morning, September 12th. The men’s 8k starts at 7:30 a.m. CT, followed by the women's 5k at 8:30 a.m. CT.
“We’re excited to get the regular season off to a start,” Auburn cross country coach Aaron Kindt said. “This is as good as an early season meet you’re going to find competitively. Both teams will go in with what we expect to be our top 10. We’re going to be running a full roster this weekend.”
There’s a lot of familiarity with this course for the Tigers. Last season, the women opened their season at this meet, finishing 13th overall. Two seasons ago, the men and women delivered second place finishes.
Friday’s course in Huntsville is also the site of November’s NCAA South Regionals.
The men will have seven athletes lined up against SEC rivals Alabama and Kentucky, as well as South Alabama, Georgia Tech and Florida State.
The women will have ten athletes facing off against Alabama, Kentucky, Miami and Mississippi State.
Coming off their last meet, the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama, the women finished first overall with 35 points, and the men were second, totaling 56 points.
Junior Cady McPhail led the women’s team to victory with her third-place finish. McPhail delivered the best 5k of her collegiate career, crossing the finish line in 17:35.20. Junior Mary Mac Collins finished just behind McPhail in fourth, running 17:41.36.
On the men’s side, the squad finished second overall, with sophomore Nickson Chebii's first-place finish highlighting the individual runs. Competing in his first collegiate 5k, Chebii finished in 14:44.11, ahead of 174 competitors. Chebii was closely followed by Auburn, Alabama native, Max Hardin, who took silver with a career best 5k (14:48.72).
“We’re excited to get out there,” Kindt said. “This will be the first meet where we let them off the leash and we see what happens. That’s where you hope that all the things you’ve talked about in practice click.”
Running in her first cross country meet of the season, senior Gené Coetzee brings veteran leadership to the women’s squad.
“We’re really excited about the way Gené has looked in practice,” Kindt said. “We’re going to be leaning heavily on her to be our front runner this year. She’s ready for that responsibility. She had a great track season last year, and she’s really opened up for us this fall and during practice. She’s looked sharp.”
Coetzee, Collins, and McPhail will race alongside seniors Shelby Balding and Hailey Howard, junior Audrey Dunn, sophomores Addison Boyer, Mary Katherin Malone and Alexandra Walsh, and freshman Kennedy Hamilton.
Chebii is expected to set the pace for the men, while transfer Joshua Kosgei from the University of South Carolina steps into the spotlight.
“We’re really excited to have Joshua on board and the talent that he can provide us with,” Kindt said. “He’s a very talented individual that we’re excited about long term.”
Chebii, Hardin, and Kosgei will be joined by seniors Rex Green and Joseph Perry, junior Evan Hill and freshman Bryce McCleary.
Live results can be found at xpresstiming.com.