The University of Mississippi Athletics
TRANSCRIPT: Ryan Vanhoy Press Conference
11/18/2019 | Cross Country
Ole Miss One of Seven Nationally to Qualify Both Men and Women to NCAAs Four Straight Years
Ole Miss track & field and cross country associate head coach Ryan Vanhoy met with members of the media Monday morning to discuss the upcoming NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, this Saturday (Nov. 23). Both the Rebel men's and women's programs qualified for the national meet after strong showings at the NCAA South Regional last Friday, making Ole Miss one of just seven programs in the NCAA to have qualified both men's and women's teams in each of the last four seasons.
Opening Statement
"We are returning from Tallahassee last Friday from the regional. It was the qualification for the NCAA Championships, which are this Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana. Our men's team won the regional title. It's the fourth time we've won in the last six years. On the men's side, we entered the meet with a plan to run a controlled effort to make sure we advanced. You have to be one of the top-two teams to do so. Finishing first or second at the regional championship is essentially the same, you get the same outcome. We had three guys that really ran together super well. We had another two guys that packed up and did well together. We just wanted to make sure we did enough to try and win the race and advance as comfortably as possible."
"On the women's side, we were second by a pretty comfortable margin. Going in, we thought there were probably three teams battling to be second, so we were definitely happy to come out on top of that. We had four all-region runners on the women's side. We were led by Anna Elkin this week on the women's team. She is the third different individual that has led our team this year. That's a very good sign for our depth on the women's side, and if we can have a day where all five of them have a great day together, then the women's team could definitely do something that would surprise a lot of people."
"On the men's side, goals for NCAAs, right now, we're probably ranked 10th or 11th in the country. We are hoping to just go in and outperform that ranking. Finish somewhere in the top-10, and depending on how good of a day we have, who knows what's possible. But we're looking to go back and finish in the top-10, which would be the second time we've been able to do that."
On Possible Individual Winners at NCAA Men's Championships…
"It's very difficult to do in cross country. There are 255 individuals in the race, so if you're the best person in that meet, it's one of the best cross country races in the world, probably outside of maybe the world championships. It's very difficult to win that race. A good individual metric in this meet is to be an All-American, that's the top-40 finishers. We've had an All-American, at least one the past three years in a row. This year we have a few guys that probably have the opportunity to be an All-American. That's probably a better way to gauge an individual goal for some members on our team, but to win the whole thing would be very difficult."
On Possible Individual Winners at NCAA Women's Championships…
"We lost our top runner (Clio Ozanne-Jaques) back in the beginning of September. Last year she finished 63rd, I believe, as an individual, so she would've been someone who was knocking on the door of maybe being an All-American this year. That'll obviously have to wait till next year, but for the ladies that will be lining up, I think the top person we had last year was maybe 140th. They are looking to more towards the top-100 this year, which given the level of difficulty in this race is a would be a good sign."
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
Opening Statement
"We are returning from Tallahassee last Friday from the regional. It was the qualification for the NCAA Championships, which are this Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana. Our men's team won the regional title. It's the fourth time we've won in the last six years. On the men's side, we entered the meet with a plan to run a controlled effort to make sure we advanced. You have to be one of the top-two teams to do so. Finishing first or second at the regional championship is essentially the same, you get the same outcome. We had three guys that really ran together super well. We had another two guys that packed up and did well together. We just wanted to make sure we did enough to try and win the race and advance as comfortably as possible."
"On the women's side, we were second by a pretty comfortable margin. Going in, we thought there were probably three teams battling to be second, so we were definitely happy to come out on top of that. We had four all-region runners on the women's side. We were led by Anna Elkin this week on the women's team. She is the third different individual that has led our team this year. That's a very good sign for our depth on the women's side, and if we can have a day where all five of them have a great day together, then the women's team could definitely do something that would surprise a lot of people."
"On the men's side, goals for NCAAs, right now, we're probably ranked 10th or 11th in the country. We are hoping to just go in and outperform that ranking. Finish somewhere in the top-10, and depending on how good of a day we have, who knows what's possible. But we're looking to go back and finish in the top-10, which would be the second time we've been able to do that."
On Possible Individual Winners at NCAA Men's Championships…
"It's very difficult to do in cross country. There are 255 individuals in the race, so if you're the best person in that meet, it's one of the best cross country races in the world, probably outside of maybe the world championships. It's very difficult to win that race. A good individual metric in this meet is to be an All-American, that's the top-40 finishers. We've had an All-American, at least one the past three years in a row. This year we have a few guys that probably have the opportunity to be an All-American. That's probably a better way to gauge an individual goal for some members on our team, but to win the whole thing would be very difficult."
On Possible Individual Winners at NCAA Women's Championships…
"We lost our top runner (Clio Ozanne-Jaques) back in the beginning of September. Last year she finished 63rd, I believe, as an individual, so she would've been someone who was knocking on the door of maybe being an All-American this year. That'll obviously have to wait till next year, but for the ladies that will be lining up, I think the top person we had last year was maybe 140th. They are looking to more towards the top-100 this year, which given the level of difficulty in this race is a would be a good sign."
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
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