The University of Mississippi Athletics
Cross Country Squads Preparing for SEC Championships
6/21/1999 | Cross Country
October 29, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss cross country teams will be competing Saturday at the 1998 Southeastern Conference Championships in Maryville, Tenn. The University of Tennessee is hosting this year's championships.
This year's race is being held at the Lambert Acres Golf Club, roughly 22 miles from the Tennessee campus in Knoxville. The women's 5K race is slated to begin at 9 a.m., with the men's 8K race to follow at 10 a.m.
Ole Miss head coach Joe Walker is looking for the men's squad to make a big improvement from last year's eighth-place finish.
"We're really excited about this weekend's SEC Championships," Walker said. "We've had two great weeks of preparation, and everybody is upbeat and real excited about our possibilities. We feel we're one of the top-five teams in the conference, and our goal is to try and upset some teams ahead of us."
Senior Bernard Kuria will attempt to become the first Rebel runner to earn three consecutive All-SEC honors. Kuria earned all-conference accolades with a seventh-place finish in 1996 and with a ninth-place finish last season.
"One of the keys to our success Saturday will be Kuria," Walker said. "He's had to overcome the death of his father this season, and a lack of training because he's had to go back and forth between here and Kenya. He's starting to round into shape and has a chance to become the first Ole Miss athlete to earn all-conference honors three years in a row."
Walker also said that sophomore Larry Henderson and junior Thomas Blackwell will be athletes to watch for Ole Miss this weekend. Henderson has turned in the third-fastest 8K time in the conference this season with a time of 24 minutes, 46.63 seconds at Southern Illinois on Oct. 3. He recorded the highest finish ever by a Rebel freshman at the 1996 SEC meet with a 19th-place finish but was forced to redshirt last season with an injury.
On the women's side, Walker expects freshmen Lauren Beaulieu and Kelly Gable, and sophomore Angie Westbrook to lead the Lady Rebels.
"Beaulieu and Gable have done a good job leading us this season, and I expect them to have a good race this weekend," Walker said. "Westbrook has really been running well in the last two meets, and she could have a good meet as well."
Arkansas has won the last eight SEC championships on the men's side, and have won 25 straight conference titles dating back to its time in the now defunct Southwest Conference. Florida is the two-time defending champion on the women's side.
