Men's XC Repeats As NCAA Southeast Regional Champion

Friday, November 10

Spartanburg, S.C.

11 A.M.

North Carolina

NCAA Southeast Regional Championships

November 10, 2023 | Cross Country

Complete Men's Results (PDF)Complete Women's Results (PDF)

By: UNC Athletics Communications

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The UNC men's cross country team won its second-straight NCAA Division I Southeast Regional title, placing four student-athletes in the top 10 to earn the automatic bid to the national championship meet Friday at Milliken Research Park.

The Tar Heels (38) finished 34 points ahead of runner-up Eastern Kentucky (72) and 68 points in front of third-place NC State (106).

"We had some great performances on both sides today," UNC head coach Chris Miltenberg said. "For the men, it was another complete team performance across the board. Every one of our guys just went out and executed their plan, ran together and built intensity over the second half.

"This group is really coming together in executing as a team and has great momentum heading into NCAAs"

Carolina junior Parker Wolfe finished second, and graduate transfer Alex Phillip took third, with junior Ethan Strand finishing sixth and Indiana transfer Jake Gebhardt placing 10th. Sophomore Colton Sands also finished in the top 25 – ranking 18th – to earn all-region honors.

Wolfe and Phillip each posted a time of 28:53.3 to finish behind individual champion Dylan Schubert of Furman (28:51.2).

Strand completed the 10K course in a personal-best time of 29:02.8, as did Gebhardt, who clocked in at 29:15.5. Sands finished the race in 29:33.1.

Junior Fatima Alanis and sophomore Eva Klingbeil earned all-region honors to lead the UNC women to a fifth-place finish.

"Today was by far the best race we ran all season and an awesome momentum builder going into the rest of the year," Miltenberg said. "We fought some injuries earlier in the season and we really hit our stride. Fatima is getting better every week and will be ready to compete really well at NCAA's next week.

NC State won the women's regional title with 52 points, followed by second-place Furman (82), third-place Virginia (123), fourth-place Wake Forest (147) and fifth-place Carolina (154).

Alanis ran a career-best 20:00.3 to finish in ninth place. Klingbeil placed 14th in 20:13.6. Junior Taryn Parks missed earning all-region accolades by one place, finishing 26th with a time of 20:32.8. Junior Ava Dobson placed 30th in 20:42.37.

The UNC men will prepare for the NCAA Division I National Championship hosted by the University of Virginia on Nov. 18 at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va. The Carolina women will await the announcement of the at-large bids on Saturday, Nov. 11.