The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Women, Cruz Gomez Earn Bids to NCAA Cross Country Championships
11/11/2023 | Cross Country
INDIANAPOLIS – Ole Miss women's cross country earned its seventh team bid to the national meet in the last eight years, while men's senior Cruz Gomez claimed a spot as an individual following the NCAA Selection Show on Saturday evening.
The selection show finalized the field for next week's 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships, held this year at the University of Virginia next Saturday, November 18. To get to this point, teams needed to either finish within the top-two at one of nine NCAA Regional meets that were run yesterday throughout the United States, or earn one of the 13 at-large bids handed out in today's NCAA Selection Show. From there, the next four individual finishers from each region not attached to an already qualified team also earned trips to the national meet as an individual runner.
This marks the eighth consecutive season that Ole Miss will be represented in both men's and women's competition at the NCAA Championships either as a team or as an individual. For the Rebel women, this is a return trip after just barely missing out on a team berth in 2022, and for the Ole Miss men this marks their 10th consecutive appearance with at least an individual or a team since 2014.
For the No. 24 Ole Miss women, yesterday's third-place finish in the heated South Regional proved good enough to book return passage to nationals – the seventh overall team bid in women's program history. The Rebels finished behind automatic qualifiers No. 15 Tennessee (61) and No. 6 Florida (79), but were able to emerge victorious in a tight three-way battle for the coveted third spot with 95 points ahead of No. 16 Alabama (98) and No. 19 Lipscomb (107).
"Our ladies had an incredible day yesterday down in Gainesville," said second year Ole Miss head cross country coach Adam Smith. "From the start, they ran together, they ran composed, and they trusted each other in all phases of the race. We had a very nice regular season, but we knew we had to run well at this meet when it matters to get back to the NCAA Championships, and that's exactly what we did. I'm very proud of this group. Knocking off two top-20 nationally ranked teams gives us a ton of momentum going into next week, and I'm extremely confident that these ladies will represent Ole Miss to the best of their abilities next week in Charlottesville."
Ole Miss is led by a group of seniors on the women's side who have been part of the best conference and national finishes in program history, and yesterday was no different. Seniors Loral Winn and Skylar Boogerd helped push the Rebel pack over the final kilometer, which proved just enough to slip past Alabama and Lipscomb for the third slot. Ole Miss did so in exceptionally fast fashion, with Winn setting a new program record 6K time by more than a full minute at 18:52.1, and was followed by four other times that all rank within the top-six ever run by Rebel women.
The scoring cadre of Winn, Boogerd, senior Ryann Helmers, junior Hannah Ielfield and sophomore Sarah Schiffmann have been the scoring five each of the last two meets, and have done so at an average spread of just 53.5 seconds. All season long, the Ole Miss women have been scoring at a spread of just 42.8 seconds.
On the men's side, senior transfer Cruz Gomez is just the seventh individual to earn an NCAA qualifying berth in Ole Miss men's history, and the first since Martin Kirui in 2011. Gomez has battled injuries throughout his first season with the Rebels, but came through where it counted the most with a career-best 10K race at the South Regional on Friday morning. Gomez finished ninth overall for All-Region honors at a full minute PR of 29:13.0.
"Cruz Gomez had the best cross country race of his career yesterday at the South Region meet," Smith said. "He patiently worked his way up throughout the 10K course, and had an incredible second half of the race to lock in his at-large berth to NCAAs. We have big goals for Cruz going into the NCAAs next week, and I know he will do everything he can to proudly represent our men's team at the national championship."
The 2023 NCAA Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be held at the University of Virginia's Panorama Farms next Saturday, November 18. Competition is set to begin at 9 a.m. CT, and the action will air live on ESPNU.
The selection show finalized the field for next week's 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships, held this year at the University of Virginia next Saturday, November 18. To get to this point, teams needed to either finish within the top-two at one of nine NCAA Regional meets that were run yesterday throughout the United States, or earn one of the 13 at-large bids handed out in today's NCAA Selection Show. From there, the next four individual finishers from each region not attached to an already qualified team also earned trips to the national meet as an individual runner.
This marks the eighth consecutive season that Ole Miss will be represented in both men's and women's competition at the NCAA Championships either as a team or as an individual. For the Rebel women, this is a return trip after just barely missing out on a team berth in 2022, and for the Ole Miss men this marks their 10th consecutive appearance with at least an individual or a team since 2014.
For the No. 24 Ole Miss women, yesterday's third-place finish in the heated South Regional proved good enough to book return passage to nationals – the seventh overall team bid in women's program history. The Rebels finished behind automatic qualifiers No. 15 Tennessee (61) and No. 6 Florida (79), but were able to emerge victorious in a tight three-way battle for the coveted third spot with 95 points ahead of No. 16 Alabama (98) and No. 19 Lipscomb (107).
"Our ladies had an incredible day yesterday down in Gainesville," said second year Ole Miss head cross country coach Adam Smith. "From the start, they ran together, they ran composed, and they trusted each other in all phases of the race. We had a very nice regular season, but we knew we had to run well at this meet when it matters to get back to the NCAA Championships, and that's exactly what we did. I'm very proud of this group. Knocking off two top-20 nationally ranked teams gives us a ton of momentum going into next week, and I'm extremely confident that these ladies will represent Ole Miss to the best of their abilities next week in Charlottesville."
Ole Miss is led by a group of seniors on the women's side who have been part of the best conference and national finishes in program history, and yesterday was no different. Seniors Loral Winn and Skylar Boogerd helped push the Rebel pack over the final kilometer, which proved just enough to slip past Alabama and Lipscomb for the third slot. Ole Miss did so in exceptionally fast fashion, with Winn setting a new program record 6K time by more than a full minute at 18:52.1, and was followed by four other times that all rank within the top-six ever run by Rebel women.
The scoring cadre of Winn, Boogerd, senior Ryann Helmers, junior Hannah Ielfield and sophomore Sarah Schiffmann have been the scoring five each of the last two meets, and have done so at an average spread of just 53.5 seconds. All season long, the Ole Miss women have been scoring at a spread of just 42.8 seconds.
On the men's side, senior transfer Cruz Gomez is just the seventh individual to earn an NCAA qualifying berth in Ole Miss men's history, and the first since Martin Kirui in 2011. Gomez has battled injuries throughout his first season with the Rebels, but came through where it counted the most with a career-best 10K race at the South Regional on Friday morning. Gomez finished ninth overall for All-Region honors at a full minute PR of 29:13.0.
"Cruz Gomez had the best cross country race of his career yesterday at the South Region meet," Smith said. "He patiently worked his way up throughout the 10K course, and had an incredible second half of the race to lock in his at-large berth to NCAAs. We have big goals for Cruz going into the NCAAs next week, and I know he will do everything he can to proudly represent our men's team at the national championship."
The 2023 NCAA Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be held at the University of Virginia's Panorama Farms next Saturday, November 18. Competition is set to begin at 9 a.m. CT, and the action will air live on ESPNU.
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