The NC Wesleyan College men's and women's Cross Country teams will be traveling to Memphis, TN this weekend to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.  Both teams are excited to compete against the top D3 teams in the Southern Region of the U.S.

The top 2 teams from the will region advance to the NCAA National Championships. The states in the South Region cover from as far north as Virginia and Kentucky to Florida and west to Texas.  The South Region is considered one of the largest regions of competition in the NCAA when it comes to cross country. 

The teams will leave Thursday morning and make stops in Knoxville, TN, Nashvillle, and Memphis on this 4-day trip.  

Last season the men finished 28th out of 33 teams in their 1st ever trip to the NCAA Regionals. 

"This season we are hoping for a top 15 finish as we are striving to continue our progression of being a great team," said head coach Marshall Leonard.  "We have a young team that is learning the sport of collegiate cross country, as it is a different race than high school cross country running. Each year they have gotten better and have continued to push the needle farther and farther in their pursuit of excellence."

The men will be represented by the team's top 7 runners which include junior All-Conference runners Christian Tippette and Andrew Bowen, sophmore All-Conference Academic member Connor Hayes, All-Conference Sportsmanship member Philly Barungi, as well as sophomores Maleik Small, Keyonte Williams, and Terenthen Parker. These Bishops finished 5th out of 13 teams in the USA South Conference Meet on Nov. 2 in Rocky Mount that was stacked with some of the best teams in the South Region.

"We are excited to be advancing our program and will be pushing to make this a championship level team, and these young adults are helping us get there," finished Leonard.