Gators head to Tallahassee for the NCAA South Regional Championships

Friday, November 9

Tallahassee, FL

8:30 AM

Florida Gators

NCAA South Regional Championship

Colin Schaefer, Trevor Foley, Justin Pacifico

Women enter regional competition ranked No. 1, men are No. 9.

Gators head to Tallahassee for the NCAA South Regional Championships

Thursday, November 8, 2018 | Cross Country

By: Corinne Simpson

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Florida cross country program will look to make a statement at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships Friday (Nov. 9) morning, hosted by Florida State University.

Senior Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell and redshirt junior Elisabeth Bergh were the Gators top finishers at the 2017 and 2016 NCAA South Region meet. Bell, who ran a 21:17 6k last season, finished 51^st and Bergh, who redshirt last season, but finished ninth in 2016, both clocked sub-20 minute 6k times at the 2018 SEC Championships two weeks ago in Auburn. Bell has recorded three top-10 finishes, while Bergh has four.

Junior Jessica Pascoe has been the Gators' top runner all season, notching three individual titles and a runner-up finish, including an individual SEC Championship. She ran an 18:54.98, which was the fastest 6k time by any Florida women's runner. She was also named the SEC Women's Runner of the Year.

Redshirt senior Morgan Hull has recorded three top-15 finishes and solidified herself as a key contributor to the Gators top four. She also recorded a sub-20 time at the SEC Championships and her 11^th place finish earned her second team All-SEC honors. Freshman Imogen Barrett finished 32^nd at the SEC Championships with a personal record of 20:25.51 and positioned herself as Florida's fifth runner. She has also recorded two top-20 finishes this season.

For the men, redshirt sophomore Colin Schaefer enters as Florida's top runner, having crossed first for the Gators in three of the four meets this season. He was the highest placing Gator at the SEC Championships, crossing 21^st with a personal record of 23:36.01. That time puts him at No. 3 in the Gators all-time 8k record book.

Trevor Foley and Justin Pacifico will look to help the men's team in postseason action. Foley, a 5-time FL State Champion including the 2017 Cross Country gold medalist and a top-10 finish at the USATF Jr. XC Championships, notched a 32^nd place finish at the conference meet and finished third for the Gators. Pacifico was a late addition to the squad, but was one of the Gators top 800m runners during track season. The junior has solidified himself as a contributor to the men's top as the fifth or sixth runner after finishing 47^th at the SEC Championships with a huge personal record of 24:08.33, which was over a minute and half faster than his first 8k performance at the Mountain Dew Invitational.

The women started the season ranked No. 14 in the region. They moved their way up, week by week, making the biggest jump of 7 spots following the team victory at the Arturo Barrios Invitational at Texas A&M. After their runner-up finish at the SEC Championships, the women earned the No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history.

Start times, team listings and Florida's expected competitors for the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships are listed below.

NCAA SOUTH REGION CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)