Nov. 13, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford men's and women's cross country teams head to Maryville, Tenn., on Saturday to take part in the NCAA South Regional Championships. The Bulldogs will face some of the top teams in the country on both the men's and women's sides at the race which will be held at the Lambert Acres Golf Club and is hosted by the University of Tennessee, who ranked third in the women's regional rankings and fifth in the men's.

"I am really looking forward to matching ourselves up to some of the best teams in the country this weekend," Samford head coach Rod Tiffin said. "We are going to run hard and leave everything we have on the course and see where it all stacks up. This will be our seniors' last race in a Samford uniform so I know this will be a sad weekend in some ways, but it will also be a marker that shows we have turned over a new leaf with new leadership and are looking forward to a bright future. There should be a lot of mixed emotions."

Samford comes off an outstanding performance at the Southern Conference Championships two weeks ago in which the women's team grabbed second place and the men's team came in fourth. The men were led by All-Conference First Team honoree Cameron Bean while the women were led by Hillary Neal and a pack of talented freshmen.

Neal earned a place on the All-Conference First Team along with Andrea Seccafien who also was named to the All-Freshman team and Freshman of the Year. Deanna Zidar earned a spot on the All-Freshman team and the All-Conference Second Team while Cori Christensen was also named to the All-Freshman team.

The Samford women have been ranked 12th in the South Region for most of the season while the men have steadily improved at each meet against tough competition. On the women's side, the Bulldogs will face top teams like No. 3 Florida State, No. 15 Florida and #37 Tennessee. The men will see teams like No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Auburn, No. 25 Florida State and No. 32 Florida.

The women's 6K race will begin at 10 a.m. followed by the men's 10K race at 10:45 a.m. The awards ceremony will take place around noon after all races are completed.

On Sunday, a selection committee will name 13 at-large teams (both men and women), comprising the 31 teams at the national championships which will be held at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. There will also be 38 individuals advancing to each meet. The top four runners at each regional meet not on an advancing team automatically advance to the national meet. On Sunday, the selection committee will select two additional at-large runners.

Check www.samfordsports.com for a full recap and results of Samford's outcome in the meet.