ABILENE – Alexandria and Michaela Hackett head to Louisville, Ky. Saturday for the 2017 NCAA Nationals Cross Country Meet at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park hosted by University of Louisville. Live coverage of the race will be available with a subscription to
FloTrack, with results available on
NCAA.com.
The Hackett's trip to nationals is the Wildcats' first since becoming full-fledged Division I members and the first time the Southland has been represented since 2015. This is the first time the league has earned multiple bids since 2007 when Lamar sent a pair of runners.
Last Outing:
The Cranston, R.I. natives led the Wildcats to a fifth-place team finish at NCAA South Central Regionals at Texas A&M. Michaela moved up from ninth place at the 2K mark to fifth over the final four kilometers and finished with a time of 19:47.6 that was just over five-seconds behind winner Lindsey Bradley (19:42.3) of Baylor. Allie held off SMU sophomore Hannah Miller for sixth place by a half second 19:50.2 to 19:50.7.
Teams: The Hacketts will face competition from 31 of the best teams in the country including 18 automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large selections. In addition to the 31 teams, 38 individual runners have qualified to compete in the NCAA National Championships.
Race Time:
The women's race is slated to toe off at 8:00 a.m.
Coach's Quote:
"It's a very big accomplishment for Allie and Michaela to make NCAA Cross Country Nationals," distance coach
Jarvis Jelen said. "They redshirted last year for the opportunity to compete at nationals so I know that it is very rewarding for them to qualify. It's also really exciting for our program to be represented at NCAA DI Nationals in our first year of eligibility. All that being said, the girls are not just happy to be here, but ready to go out and have a great performance."
