RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky men's cross country team is set to compete to claim a spot at Nationals as they head to Rock Hill, S.C. to compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, hosted by Winthrop University.

The 40-team field is one of the deepest in the NCAA, featuring five teams ranked in the USTFCCCA top 30 where the Colonel men currently sit in the No. 24 spot nationally. No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 13 Virginia and No. 22 Furman join the Colonels in the rankings.

The last time the Colonels took on a field of this caliber was at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals where the team placed 15th out of 32 teams, including many of the top-ranked teams nationally. However, the regional championships will likely be the first time Colonels have pulled out all the stops in a race this season, as first-year standout & Pre-Nationals third-place finisher Justine Kipkoech and ASUN individual runner-up Taha Er Raouy have yet to compete in the same race together.

Last time out on course, the Colonel men cruised to their third-consecutive ASUN championship, finishing with 29 points to comfortably beat out second-place North Florida at 59. It was a dominant performance for EKU as all nine runners finished within the top 35 out of a 110 runner field, including four top ten finishers. Seven Colonels claimed All-ASUN honors and head coach Cory Erdmann earned his third-straight ASUN Men's Coach of the Year award.

The action kicks off at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 15 with the women's 6K, where a small contingent of Colonel women will also compete - though not enough to qualify for a team score. The men's 10K is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. with the Colonels assigned to box nine.

The top two teams in each regional secure automatic bids to the championship. The first four individual finishers not from an automatic qualifying or at-large team also secure an auto-bid to the championships. If a team doesn't secure an automatic bid, it will have to rely on the NCAA DI Cross Country Subcommittee to select it as one of the 13 at-large teams.

The 2024 DI men's and women's cross country selection show will air on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. ET live on NCAA.com.

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