Results 

  

SMU's Cross Country team placed eighth in Friday's NCAA South Central Regionals meet out of 23 competing teams – matching their ranking heading into the race and moving up eight spots since their previous appearance at the regionals race in 2019. 

"Today was a good day," Head Coach A' Havahla Haynes said. "Full of growth and potential. We were 16th here in 2019 and 8th after a year of being on pause." 

Maddie Hulcy said the team's placing wasn't exactly what they'd hoped for with the goal of a top five team placement at regionals, but she said they aren't done with what this team is going to accomplish. 

"We definitely went into the race knowing there were a lot of really strong programs to compete with, but we never wanted to count ourselves out," Hulcy said. "Our finishing position was a little disappointing today, but I'm excited that we're returning all but one of our runners, and I know we're all really motivated to keep improving the program and keep after our goals next year." 

Kaitlyn Gearin earned All-Region honors and narrowly missed her goal of placing in the top 15 runners with a 17th place finish and a time of 21:19.6. She was less than a second off her performance at the AAC Championships two weeks ago. 

"Three women had big races," Haynes said. "Kaitlyn Gearin went for a shot at being an individual qualifier and ended up just outside in 17th. Maddie Hulcy and Mia Olsen had their best race of the season and put themselves in the top 50 early." 

Hulcy placed 34th and improved on her AAC race by 14 seconds. She was followed by Mia Olsen who ran 20 seconds faster than the previous meet and placed 48th with a time of 22:11. 

"As an individual, I was happy to run near a personal record on a pretty difficult course," Hulcy said. "I've come a long way since I joined the team as a freshman so I was proud to represent SMU as our second runner at regionals and conference. I feel committed to helping this program continue to get better, and I think we have a great group of women that I'm excited to train with for track season." 

The team finished out their season with this race. This season produced personal bests, two All-Conference honors, one All-Region honor, and great improvements in the team standings in the conference and in the region. The Cross Country athletes will now transition to track season and prepare for the start of indoor season, which is quickly approaching.  

"The future is bright for this group as we return all but Cayla Eckenroth from this 2021 roster," Haynes said. "I am proud of where they are and where we are going as a group representing the best institution in SMU!" 

  

TEAM RESULTS 

1. Arkansas 27 

2. Rice 96 

3. Texas 101 

4. LSU 116 

5. Abilene Christian 135 

6. Texas A&M 182 

7. Arkansas State 202 

8. SMU 232 

9. New Orleans 244 

10. Texas A&M- CC 298 

11. Baylor 300 

12. Incarnate Word 340 

13. McNeese State 356 

14. Houston 407 

15. UT-Arlington 412 

16. Nicholls State 424 

17. Central Arkansas 436 

18. Sam Houston 510 

19. Stephen F. Austin 532 

20. UT-Rio Grande Valley 548 

21. North Texas 562 

22. Lamar 593 

23. Texas State 642 

  

SMU INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 

17 Kaitlyn Gearin 21:19.6 

34 Maddie Hulcy 21:48.6 

48 Mia Olsen 22:11.0 

75 Jessie Crowley 22:46.8 

78 Cayla Eckenroth 22:49.7 

98 Kendall Saeger 23:12.4 

113 Leoni Mierswa 23:32.3