Oct. 30, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University cross country teams will head to Elon, N.C., this weekend to participate in their second Southern Conference Championships. This year marks the 80th Annual Cross Country Championship for the men and the 25th for the women. Elon will be the host of the event for the first time.
Samford has had two weeks to prepare for this weekend's event after running its final meet on Oct. 17 at Troy's Coach "O" Invitational.
"After the last couple of weeks getting ready for the conference meet, I feel that we are healthy and ready to run," Samford head coach Rod Tiffin said. "It will be tough on both sides but hopefully we can run our best and see how it all adds up at the end of the meet."
The Bulldogs have faced a lot of adversity from Mother Nature so far this season. She has literally rained on Samford's parade in three races (Memphis Twilight, Ole Miss Invitational and Southeast Showdown), cancelling one, while Samford also face extreme heat and humidity at the Crimson Classic.
"This year has been a special year so far," Tiffin said. "I know our focus all year has been to stay focused and stay within ourselves and not make excuses. We have had a lot of opportunities with the weather every week to make excuses but for the most part we have kept our head down and done the work."
The Samford women have come in first in three out of the four meets they have competed in leading up to this weekend. They opened the season with a win at the Memphis Twilight followed by a fifth place finish against tough competition in the Crimson Classic. They then rounded out the season with back-to-back wins at the Southeast Showdown and the Coach "O" Invitational.
The men have fared well also this year finishing in the top five of three out of four events run. They placed fifth at the Memphis Twilight followed by a 13th place finish at the Crimson Classic. They posted their highest finish of the season at the Southeast Showdown, finishing second to Ole Miss, and took fourth two weeks ago at the Coach "O" Invitational.
Last season, the Samford women came in second to the Chattanooga women by just a few points, and the women have not stopped thinking about it since. Samford's women have one goal this year, and that is to win a championship.
"Of course going in to the meet our women's team has it eyes on the championship trophy," Tiffin said. "We have been thinking about the runner-up finish since last year and it still doesn't sit right. Our guys lost a lot of seniors last year at the top of our line-up so we feel this year is a rebuilding year. We will run hard and see what happens."
Although the Samford men lost a lot of talent in its senior class last season, they are still looking to better last year's fourth place finish, and of course, have their eyes set on a championship as well.
Tiffin says he looks for junior Hillary Neal and sophomore Andrea Seccafien to be the front runners for the women again this year. In last year's race, Neal led the Bulldogs and garnered First Team All-SoCon honors with a third place finish while Seccafien was named Freshman Runner of the Year as the top freshman finisher in sixth place.
Seccafien led the Bulldogs in the first two meets of the year, finishing fourth overall at the Memphis Twilight and 22nd at the Crimson Classic. She rounded out the year with a third place finish at the Southeast Showdown and a sixth place finish at the Coach "O" Invitational. Neal led the Bulldogs in the last two meets winning both.
Blaise Carie looks to be the front runner for the men. Tiffin calls the team captain this year's "bell cow" as he has led the men is all four meets this season. His highest finishes came in the last two meets with a fourth place finish at the Southeast Showdown and a sixth place finish at the Coach "O" Invitational. Last season, Carie finished 31st overall, fourth on his team. He hopes to fill the big shoes of the talent lost by last year's senior class and lead his team to an improvement, and hopefully a championship, in this year's race.
The championships will begin with the men's 8,000-meter run at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the women's 5,000-meter event at 10:45 a.m. on Elon's Campus. The top men's and women's teams will be the 2009 Conference Champions, while the top 7 individuals in each race will be named First Team All-conference. Individual finishers placing 8th through 14th in each race will comprise the Second Team All-Conference.
A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the meet.
