Gators Women Take Second, Qualify for NCAA Championships

Friday, November 9

Tallahassee, FL

8:30 AM

Florida Gators

NCAA South Regional Championship

Redshirt senior Morgan Hull clocked a top-10 finished and helped propel her team to the NCAA Championships.

Gators Women Take Second, Qualify for NCAA Championships

Friday, November 9, 2018 | Cross Country

By: Corinne Simpson

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida women's cross country team is headed to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2012.

The Gators posted a runner-up finish at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships Friday morning, earning them an automatic bid to the big race. Their second-place finish is a 20-place improvement from last year's regional meet and their highest placing since 2010.

Florida also became the first team since Oklahoma State (2010) to qualify for the national meet a year after finishing lower than 16th in a regional championship. (The Gators were 22nd a year ago.)

The women were favored to win team title, but Florida State fought hard in the last kilometers of the race to win the championship and edged out the Gators by four points.

The Gators were paced by five top-30 finishes, including a runner-up finish from SEC Champion Jessica Pascoe. Elisabeth Bergh, Morgan Hull and Imogen Barrett are recorded top-25 finishes, earning All-Region Honors. Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell rounded out the Gators scoring efforts with a 28th place finish, 23 spots above her finish at last year's regional. McQuilkin-Bell was the top finisher for Florida last season.

For the men, redshirt sophomore Colin Schaefer paced the Florida group in their first 10k race of the season. He finished 34th with a 32:32.0. Redshirt freshman Nick Deal turned in one of his best performances of the season with a 55th place finish, followed by junior Magnus Pettersen. Blake Lowery and Bryce Statham rounded out the Gators top-5 with top-75 finishes.

In the team competition, the men finishes 11th and their season will end at the NCAA South Region Championships. Ole Miss, who took the title at the SEC Championships followed up with a regional championship and will represent the SEC at the NCAA Championships. Florida State's men finished second.

Gators Women- 6k

Place	Runner	Time
2	Jessica Pascoe	20:23.6
6	Elisabeth Bergh	20:40.5
9	Morgan Hull	20:51.7
21	Imogen Barrett	21:10.9
28	Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell	21:16.4
77	Grace Blair	22:23.6
91	Gabrielle Wilkinson	22:39.9

Gators Men- 10k

Place	Runner	Time
34	Colin Schaefer	32:32.0
55	Nick Deal	32:56.3
59	Magnus Pettersen	33:04.1
69	Blake Lowery	33:16.6
74	Bryce Statham	33:26.0
115	Trevor Foley	34:39.1
-	Justin Pacifico	DNF

Thoughts from Assistant Coach Chris Solinsky:

"Lot of control. That was the message last night. The work we did all season afforded us some flexibility and some wiggle room for today. We wanted to get out and establish position. I wanted them to be listening at the last 1k, whether we had to dig in or cruise it in. Today, we were in a position where I thought we had it wrapped up but obviously Florida State did a good job at finishing hard. My message the last 1k was to finish hard but nothing crazy. Just to get the job done and hold your position relatively. They did that because we helped our score by four or five points in the last 1k. I think in a week, we left enough in our legs that we can really dig down in a week. I thought overall we looked strong and had a more left in the tank which will come in handy next week when every place counts."
"Florida State fought hard that last kilometer to get the victory and they earned it, but today second got the job done for us to get an automatic spot to nationals."
"If you're looking at history, a year ago we were 22nd. To finish second in the region, it shows the dedication and amount of buy in the ladies have. It's a really good step forward because it's where we want to see ourselves and obviously the job is not done yet. We want to make sure we put together a performance that's emblematic of everything we've done so far and continue to take steps off of that. We are really excited to do that and continue to build momentum with our program."
"The men did better than last year and we showed signs of being able to run together as a group. This group of guys has a lot of potential, they just have to do all the little things better and more consistently to see the results we are looking for. They are starting to get there."

NCAA South Region Cross Country Championships Information:

Women 6k Results | Men 10k Results
Venue: Apalachee Regional Park (Florida State)
Men: 24 teams, 172 runners
- 1. Ole Miss
- 2. Florida State
- 3. Tennessee
- 11. Florida (285 points)
Women: 30 teams, 208 runners
- 1. Florida State (60 points)
- 2. Florida (64 points)
- 3. Ole Miss (87)

Up Next:

The Florida women will travel to Madison, WI for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships which will be held on a Saturday, and taking place at the Zimmer Championship Course on Nov. 17. The women's 6K will start at 10:45 a.m. For more information, please visit the NCAA and University of Wisconsin's meet central website.

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