BLUFFTON, SC- Four members of the USCB cross country team will leave for Vancouver, Washington on Thursday for the NAIA National Cross Country Championships. Junior Katie Mock and sophomores Frank Tinsley, Nic Tones, and Stephen Wilson will all compete against some of the best runners in the country on Saturday on a 5000 meter course for women and an 8000 meter distance for the men at the Ft Vancouver National Historic Site located just across the Columbia River from Portland, OR.
Each qualified for the championships by virtue of being among the top five indiivduals at the Sun Conference Championships on November 7th in Lake Wales, FL. This will be the second trip to the national championships in cross country for Tones as he represented the Sand Sharks a year ago in Kenosha, WI. Mock qualified for the marathon event at the NAIA spring outdoor track and field championships, but did not run because of an injury.
"The training for all four has gone extremely well in the past two weeks and we are hoping they all run well and come back hungry to go back again," said Coach Larry Kimball. He added, "we hope to get our whole team qualified in the future and this year we got four qualified compared to last year when we had two."
The Portland area has had constant rain for the past week and it is not expected to subside until well into next week meaning the course could be very muddy and wet. Kimball said, "If rain and mud are factors, times can be thrown out the window and the runners who run smart will be the more successful ones out there."
The men will race Saturday at10:30 PST will the women will toe the line at 11:45. Results will be posted on the the website www.cascadeconference.org as soon as the race results are finalized.
