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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (SMU) - SMU cross country continues postseason competition on Friday at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships starting at 9:15 a.m. from the Dale Watts Cross Country Course.

-- The top two teams will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships set for November 17 from Madison, Wisconsin. Also, the top four individuals not associated with the qualifying teams will earn a championship spot, just as Hannah Miller accomplished the last two seasons.

-- The Championship is set for 6,000 kilometers from a course that the Mustangs are familiar with, having competed there earlier in the season at the Arturo Barrios Invitational. Miller ran the fastest 6K in program history on this course in 2017.

-- SMU brings back four of the seven athletes who competed at the 2017 South Central Regional Meet.

-- With a 1^st-place finish in College Station, the Mustangs can win their third event of the season for the third time in program history, the last coming in 2004.

-- Last season, Hannah Miller punched a ticket to the NCAA Championships with a 7^th place finish at the South Central Regional Meet, returning to the NCAA meet after also earning a spot with a 4^th place finish at the 2016 South Central Regional Meet.

-- As a team in 2017, SMU Cross Country came in 4^th at the South Central Regional Meet, just two spots short of an NCAA Championship appearance.

-- An individual Mustang has won the South Central Regional on four occasions. Silije Fjortoft came in first three times in her career (2008, 2009, 2011) while Rachel Forish took the top spot in the 2006 race.

-- Arkansas comes in as the defending regional champs and are currently ranked 5^th in the nation. The South Region includes all Division 1 cross country programs in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, with the lone exception being Texas Tech who competes in the Mountain Regional.

-- SMU is in the midst of a run of seven consecutive years of a 5^th or better finish at the South Central Regional Meet. During this stretch, SMU has three top-3 finishes.

-- The Mustangs last victory at the Regional came in 2009, one of two titles for the Mustangs with the other coming in 2004.

-- The Mustangs last earned a bid to the NCAA Championship in 2013, since then, the Mustangs have finished one spot shy on two occasions, 2014 and 2015.

-- In the latest South Central Region poll the Mustangs rank third, behind Arkansas and Texas. SMU climbed to as high as No. 2 in the region after this season's trip to Louisville, Kentucky.

--Three Mustangs merited All-Conference honors based on their performances at the American Championship from New Orleans … Svenja Ojstersek paced the squad with a second place showing followed by Hannah Miller who finished in fourth … Anneke Grogan recorded an 8^th place finish becoming the third of the All-Conference Mustangs … SMU has the most All-Conference performances out of any AAC school since the formation of the conference.

 

SMU at the NCAA South Central Championship (Last 5)

Year     Place   Top Finisher

2017     4^th       Miller (7^th)
2016     5^th       Miller (4^th)
2015     3^rd       Souza (9^th)      
2014     3^rd       Sjostrom (3^rd)
2013     2^nd       Magnusson (12^th)

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MUSTANGS 6K History

-Hannah Miller ran the fastest 6K of the season for the Mustangs during the Arturo Barrios Invitational held at the same course as the regional meet. The junior came in third with a time of 20:14.1. Miller also holds the fastest 6K in program history when she ran a 19:50.7 also in College Station.

- Last season, Hannah Miller was the only American Conference athlete to make it out of a Regional and advance onto the NCAA Championship.

-- Hannah Miller has four of the five Cross Country Athlete of the Weeks that the AAC has given out in 2018. Winny Koskei of Wichita State is the only athlete to win the award other than Miller, taking home the honor on the one week that Miller didn't get a chance to compete. Miller's four awards are tied for second most in conference history behind Anne-Marie Blaney of UCF who was Athlete of the Week nine times.

            

             AAC Athlete of the Week Honors

Anne-Marie Blaney                     9          UCF
Hannah Miller                             4          SMU
Martina Rodriguez Sala              4          Memphis
Agnes Sjostrom                          2          SMU
Charlotte Tara Murphy                2          SMU
Arnica Zitting                               2          Memphis

USTFCCCA National CCRI: Cross Country Rating Index

No. 4     Arkansas
No. 65  Texas
No. 92    SMU
No. 107   LSU
No. 114   Texas A&M
No. 132    Rice
No.138    TCU
No.142   UTRGV
No. 146   Arkansas State
No. 150    Texas State
No. 166    Baylor
No. 187    Houston
No. 192    Lamar
No. 196    Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
No. 204     Stephen F. Austin
No. 214     North Texas
No. 224     McNeese State
No. 264     Little Rock
No.  269    Tulane
No. 273     UTSA
No. 275    Sam Houston State
No. 279     Incarnate Word
No. 328     Nicholls State