Oct. 25, 2012
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Kentucky cross country teams will race for the SEC Championships at Percy Warner Park on Friday.
The women’s 6,000 meter race is scheduled for an 11 a.m. ET start, while the men’s 8K race will get underway at noon.
The women’s team is led by Cally Macumber, who is the winner of the past two SEC Cross Country Athlete of the Week awards. She owns the fastest 5K and 6K times in the SEC this season.
“The group has had their sights set on this meet all year,” women’s cross country coach Hakon DeVries said. “We previewed the course at the end of August, so we are prepared to compete and represent the University of Kentucky. There’s a lot of emotion and excitement that surrounds an SEC championship and we’re planning to use that to our advantage.”
Macumber has four top-10 finishes in as many meets this season, highlighted by a win at the Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational.
Chelsea Oswald has also displayed impressive consistency as she owns top-25 finishes in all four races she has competed in this year.
Oswald currently has the third and fourth fastest five and 6K times respectively in the conference this season. Both Macumber and Oswald have placed inside the top-10 at three of the Wildcats’ four meets.
The Kentucky men’s team enters the SEC Championships led by Luis Orta.
“We are excited to enter the championship portion of our season,” men’s cross country coach Jason Dunn said. “The guys have been training well and making progress every week so I am really looking forward to competing again on Friday.”
Orta’s time of 23:53.40 at Pre-Nationals registers as the sixth fastest time at championship distance (8K) in the conference this season.
The 2011 First Team All-SEC runner, also boasts the third best 5K time in the conference this season (15:16.70 at the Belmont Opener) in a race-winning performance.
Matt Hillenbrand’s sixth-place time of 15:37.30 at the Belmont Opener stands as the seventh-fastest 5K time of all SEC runners in 2012.
Admission to the 2012 SEC Cross Country Championships is free.
The defending SEC men’s cross country champion is Arkansas, and the defending women’s conference champion is Vanderbilt. The Commodores are also serving as hosts for the meet.
