The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Men and Women Both Selected for NCAA Championships
3/7/2021 | Cross Country
<i class="icon-video"></i> Selection Show<i class="icon-paper"></i> Qualifiers List<i class="icon-info-circled"></i> Championship Info
National Meet Set for March 15 at Oklahoma State and on ESPNU
INDIANAPOLIS – Ole Miss men's and women's cross country have both earned national bids to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the fifth straight year, with the Rebel men earning their seventh in a row and the women their fifth following the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday.
The 2020 season, which was prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will reach its conclusion on Monday, March 15, when the rescheduled NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Despite being in the midst of an excellent indoor track season, both Rebel squads will hope to put on strong team performances just two days following the NCAA Indoor Championships at Arkansas on March 11-13.
Both programs enter the national meet ranked in the final USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll released on Friday, with the men coming in at No. 15 and the women No. 26. Ole Miss is now one of just six programs nationwide to have both its men's and women's teams qualify each of the last five years alongside No. 3/1 Arkansas, No. 1/2 BYU, No. 8/6 Colorado, No. 13/5 NC State and No. 4/4 Stanford (rankings listed men/women). Entering this year's national meet, Ole Miss stands in the upper echelon as one of just four to have placed both men and women in the top-25 each of the last four years beside BYU, Colorado and Stanford.
Ole Miss will be looking for a strong men's finish in its seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, after having never qualified prior to 2014.
The last time the No. 15 Rebel men hit a cross country course, the first three across the finish line were all Rebels. Ole Miss completed the first 1-2-3 conference sweep in school history at the SEC Championships back on Oct. 30, with SEC Runner of the Year Mario Garcia Romo taking the crown to become the third Rebel to ever win an SEC title. The sweep was just the 10th in conference history, and the first since Alabama did so in 2017. Ole Miss finished second in the team standings to No. 3 Arkansas.
Sophomore Cole Bullock took runner-up honors, while All-American Waleed Suliman finished third. The trio all earned First-Team All-SEC honors for their performances, and all three finished within two seconds of each other with Garcia Romo winning at 23:32.9, and Bullock and Suliman technically tying at 23:34.3.
Suliman is the first multiple All-American honoree in Ole Miss cross country history after finishing 36th in 2018 and 20th in 2019. Suliman (mile, 3K, DMR) and Garcia Romo (3K, DMR) are also both scheduled to run at the NCAA Indoor Championships a few days earlier over at Arkansas.
It will be a similar story for the Rebel women, who are in their fifth straight NCAA Championship race after having never qualified prior to 2016. Ole Miss is coming off back-to-back program records for national finishes, with its most recent top slot being a 21st-place race at the national meet in 2019.
Ole Miss took third at the SEC Championships in the women's race behind No. 1 Arkansas and No. 13 Alabama, holding off a late charge from Kentucky for their fifth straight top-three finish. Prior to 2016, the Rebel women had never finished in the top-three of an SEC meet.
Senior Anna Elkin led the way again, earning her first career All-SEC honors on the Second-Team with an eighth-place finish at a 16-second 6K PR of 20:15.9. Fellow senior Victoria Simmons earned her second straight Second-Team honor with a 14th-place showing at 20:37.8. Senior Emma McClellan also had a career day, notching a 26-second PR in 27th place at 20:55.2. Other Rebel scorers included Clio Ozanne-Jaques in 28th (20:58.7) and Ryann Helmers in 29th (21:02.4).
Traditionally, the team and individual national berths are awarded via the NCAA Regional meets run one week prior to the national meet each November, but this season berths were awarded via criteria established by a selection committee. After teams declared their intent to compete, the committee weighed conference championship performances as well as the entire cross country season as a whole. Additionally, head-to-head competition was also considered as a factor.
Individual entries were handled in a similar manner. The top individual finisher from each conference championship not attached to a qualifying team advanced, with a maximum of 32 individuals depending on how many conferences hosted a championship. The remaining individual spots were selected at-large by the committee to fill the field to 38.
The 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held at Oklahoma State on Monday, March 15, and can be viewed live on ESPNU beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT, with a post-championship ceremony held live online on ESPN3 afterward. The women's championship 6K is set for 11:50 a.m. CT, and the men's championship 10K is scheduled afterward at 12:40 p.m. CT.
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
The 2020 season, which was prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will reach its conclusion on Monday, March 15, when the rescheduled NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Despite being in the midst of an excellent indoor track season, both Rebel squads will hope to put on strong team performances just two days following the NCAA Indoor Championships at Arkansas on March 11-13.
Both programs enter the national meet ranked in the final USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll released on Friday, with the men coming in at No. 15 and the women No. 26. Ole Miss is now one of just six programs nationwide to have both its men's and women's teams qualify each of the last five years alongside No. 3/1 Arkansas, No. 1/2 BYU, No. 8/6 Colorado, No. 13/5 NC State and No. 4/4 Stanford (rankings listed men/women). Entering this year's national meet, Ole Miss stands in the upper echelon as one of just four to have placed both men and women in the top-25 each of the last four years beside BYU, Colorado and Stanford.
Ole Miss will be looking for a strong men's finish in its seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, after having never qualified prior to 2014.
The last time the No. 15 Rebel men hit a cross country course, the first three across the finish line were all Rebels. Ole Miss completed the first 1-2-3 conference sweep in school history at the SEC Championships back on Oct. 30, with SEC Runner of the Year Mario Garcia Romo taking the crown to become the third Rebel to ever win an SEC title. The sweep was just the 10th in conference history, and the first since Alabama did so in 2017. Ole Miss finished second in the team standings to No. 3 Arkansas.
Sophomore Cole Bullock took runner-up honors, while All-American Waleed Suliman finished third. The trio all earned First-Team All-SEC honors for their performances, and all three finished within two seconds of each other with Garcia Romo winning at 23:32.9, and Bullock and Suliman technically tying at 23:34.3.
Suliman is the first multiple All-American honoree in Ole Miss cross country history after finishing 36th in 2018 and 20th in 2019. Suliman (mile, 3K, DMR) and Garcia Romo (3K, DMR) are also both scheduled to run at the NCAA Indoor Championships a few days earlier over at Arkansas.
It will be a similar story for the Rebel women, who are in their fifth straight NCAA Championship race after having never qualified prior to 2016. Ole Miss is coming off back-to-back program records for national finishes, with its most recent top slot being a 21st-place race at the national meet in 2019.
Ole Miss took third at the SEC Championships in the women's race behind No. 1 Arkansas and No. 13 Alabama, holding off a late charge from Kentucky for their fifth straight top-three finish. Prior to 2016, the Rebel women had never finished in the top-three of an SEC meet.
Senior Anna Elkin led the way again, earning her first career All-SEC honors on the Second-Team with an eighth-place finish at a 16-second 6K PR of 20:15.9. Fellow senior Victoria Simmons earned her second straight Second-Team honor with a 14th-place showing at 20:37.8. Senior Emma McClellan also had a career day, notching a 26-second PR in 27th place at 20:55.2. Other Rebel scorers included Clio Ozanne-Jaques in 28th (20:58.7) and Ryann Helmers in 29th (21:02.4).
Traditionally, the team and individual national berths are awarded via the NCAA Regional meets run one week prior to the national meet each November, but this season berths were awarded via criteria established by a selection committee. After teams declared their intent to compete, the committee weighed conference championship performances as well as the entire cross country season as a whole. Additionally, head-to-head competition was also considered as a factor.
Individual entries were handled in a similar manner. The top individual finisher from each conference championship not attached to a qualifying team advanced, with a maximum of 32 individuals depending on how many conferences hosted a championship. The remaining individual spots were selected at-large by the committee to fill the field to 38.
The 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held at Oklahoma State on Monday, March 15, and can be viewed live on ESPNU beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT, with a post-championship ceremony held live online on ESPN3 afterward. The women's championship 6K is set for 11:50 a.m. CT, and the men's championship 10K is scheduled afterward at 12:40 p.m. CT.
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
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