The University of Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, November 18
Charlottesville, Va.
9:20 AM
Ole Miss
vs
NCAA Championships
Ole Miss Hits National Stage at 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships
11/17/2023 | Cross Country
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Ole Miss cross country will look to finish strong on the national stage, as the Rebel women's team and men's senior Cruz Gomez will conclude their seasons at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships at Virginia's Panorama Farms on Saturday morning. Both races will air live and commercial-free on ESPNU, which will begin its coverage at 8:30 a.m. CT and will be followed by the women's championship 6K at 9:20 a.m. CT and the men's championship 10K at 10:10 a.m. CT.
At last week's NCAA South Regional in Gainesville, Florida, the Ole Miss women fought through one of the toughest regional meets in the nation for a third-place finish – which was good enough for an at-large berth to nationals. On the men's side, senior Cruz Gomez led the Rebel pack in the 10K at the regional meet with a ninth-place finish, which was good enough for him to snag an at-large individual ticket to nationals.
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.
Women's Championship 6K Preview • 9:20 a.m. CT
No. 23 Ole Miss Women • NCAA Roster
Skylar Boogerd
Ryann Helmers
Madison Hulsey
Hannah Ielfield
Sarah Schiffmann
Kristel van den Berg
Loral Winn
NCAA Team Finish History
2016 – 23rd
2017 – 25th
2018 – 22nd
2019 – 21st
2020 – 12th
2021 – 10th
Senior leadership has been a hallmark for the 23rd-ranked Rebel women all season long, and it came through again when it mattered most at the highly-competitive NCAA South Regional last week. Ole Miss was one of five ranked teams vying for the two automatic berths, putting a premium on that third-place slotting for the at-large selection process.
With a little more than one kilometer to go, it was seniors Loral Winn and Skylar Boogerd – both members of the top-two NCAA team finishes in program history in 2020 (12th) and 2021 (10th) – who dug deep pushed the Rebel pack forward. No. 15 Tennessee (61) and SEC champs No. 6 Florida (79) took the AQ spots, but Winn and Boogerd's last-minute push of five spots each gave Ole Miss a three-point edge ahead of fourth-place No. 16 Alabama, 95-98, and a 12-point gap ahead of No. 19 Lipscomb (107).
Fellow senior Ryann Helmers – an individual NCAA qualifier last season – did her part as well, holding firm in 15th place. Junior Hannah Ielfield (28th) and sophomore Sarah Schiffmann (30th) rounded out the scoring at a total spread of just 49 seconds, giving Ole Miss the same scoring five in each of its last two meets. The Rebels have averaged a spread of 53.5 with that scoring cadre of Winn, Boogerd, Helmers, Ielfield and Schiffmann across SECs and regionals, and all season the Ole Miss average scoring spread stands at just 42.8 seconds.
All five Rebels also had an exceptionally fast regional meet, clocking five of the top six recorded 6K times in Ole Miss women's history – led by Winn smashing the record at a full minute PR of 18:52.1, making her the first known Rebel woman to break the 19-minute barrier in the 6K.
Overall on the year, Ole Miss ended with 16 total ranked wins thanks to a team win at the Southern Showcase on Sept. 15, a runner-up finish at Loyola's Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Sept. 29 and a 12th-place finish at Wisconsin's national-caliber Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 13 that included 10 ranked wins.
Men's Championship 10K Preview • 10:10 a.m. CT
Senior Cruz Gomez has battled injuries throughout his first season with the Rebels this fall, but he came through when it counted most at the South Regional last week. Gomez was Ole Miss' top men's finisher in ninth place at a one-minute 10K PR of 29:13.0, which was good enough for him to snag an individual berth to NCAAs. Gomez is Ole Miss' first individual men's qualifier since 2011 (Martin Kirui) and its seventh overall.
This will be the fourth career trip to the national cross country meet for Gomez, who ran as part of Texas' qualifying teams in 2019, 2021 and 2022. On the track, Gomez is a two-time First-Team All-American on distance medley relay teams indoors for Texas in 2021 (third) and 2022 (first).
At last week's NCAA South Regional in Gainesville, Florida, the Ole Miss women fought through one of the toughest regional meets in the nation for a third-place finish – which was good enough for an at-large berth to nationals. On the men's side, senior Cruz Gomez led the Rebel pack in the 10K at the regional meet with a ninth-place finish, which was good enough for him to snag an at-large individual ticket to nationals.
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.
Women's Championship 6K Preview • 9:20 a.m. CT
No. 23 Ole Miss Women • NCAA Roster
Skylar Boogerd
Ryann Helmers
Madison Hulsey
Hannah Ielfield
Sarah Schiffmann
Kristel van den Berg
Loral Winn
NCAA Team Finish History
2016 – 23rd
2017 – 25th
2018 – 22nd
2019 – 21st
2020 – 12th
2021 – 10th
Senior leadership has been a hallmark for the 23rd-ranked Rebel women all season long, and it came through again when it mattered most at the highly-competitive NCAA South Regional last week. Ole Miss was one of five ranked teams vying for the two automatic berths, putting a premium on that third-place slotting for the at-large selection process.
With a little more than one kilometer to go, it was seniors Loral Winn and Skylar Boogerd – both members of the top-two NCAA team finishes in program history in 2020 (12th) and 2021 (10th) – who dug deep pushed the Rebel pack forward. No. 15 Tennessee (61) and SEC champs No. 6 Florida (79) took the AQ spots, but Winn and Boogerd's last-minute push of five spots each gave Ole Miss a three-point edge ahead of fourth-place No. 16 Alabama, 95-98, and a 12-point gap ahead of No. 19 Lipscomb (107).
Fellow senior Ryann Helmers – an individual NCAA qualifier last season – did her part as well, holding firm in 15th place. Junior Hannah Ielfield (28th) and sophomore Sarah Schiffmann (30th) rounded out the scoring at a total spread of just 49 seconds, giving Ole Miss the same scoring five in each of its last two meets. The Rebels have averaged a spread of 53.5 with that scoring cadre of Winn, Boogerd, Helmers, Ielfield and Schiffmann across SECs and regionals, and all season the Ole Miss average scoring spread stands at just 42.8 seconds.
All five Rebels also had an exceptionally fast regional meet, clocking five of the top six recorded 6K times in Ole Miss women's history – led by Winn smashing the record at a full minute PR of 18:52.1, making her the first known Rebel woman to break the 19-minute barrier in the 6K.
Overall on the year, Ole Miss ended with 16 total ranked wins thanks to a team win at the Southern Showcase on Sept. 15, a runner-up finish at Loyola's Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Sept. 29 and a 12th-place finish at Wisconsin's national-caliber Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 13 that included 10 ranked wins.
Men's Championship 10K Preview • 10:10 a.m. CT
Senior Cruz Gomez has battled injuries throughout his first season with the Rebels this fall, but he came through when it counted most at the South Regional last week. Gomez was Ole Miss' top men's finisher in ninth place at a one-minute 10K PR of 29:13.0, which was good enough for him to snag an individual berth to NCAAs. Gomez is Ole Miss' first individual men's qualifier since 2011 (Martin Kirui) and its seventh overall.
This will be the fourth career trip to the national cross country meet for Gomez, who ran as part of Texas' qualifying teams in 2019, 2021 and 2022. On the track, Gomez is a two-time First-Team All-American on distance medley relay teams indoors for Texas in 2021 (third) and 2022 (first).
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