Nov. 11, 2006

NCAA REGIONAL RESULTS
NCAA South Regional

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The Tennessee men's cross country team finished fourth out of 25 teams in the 10K NCAA South Regional, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Lambert Acres Golf Club in Maryville. The Vols scored 108 points and finished just eight points behind third place.

"I'm very proud of how hard our guys fought throughout the race," head coach George Watts said. "I'm not disappointed in them, but I'm disappointed for them. If we had finished third, we would have had a shot at an at-large bid (to the NCAA Championship). We were just too far back with 2,000 meters to go. We made up some ground but not enough. This is a great group of guys and we have a lot to look forward to the rest of the year.

Florida State won the team title with 67 points, followed by Alabama in second with 88 and Florida in third with 100 points. The top-two teams, as well as the top-four individuals not on a qualifying team, automatically advance to the NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 20.

Senior Jeff Day led the Vols for the second time this season, finishing 17th in 32:01.6. Day was followed closely by team captain Tyler DeVault crossing the finish line in 32:03.9 to finish 18th. Ben Lukowski and Chris Platt were the next Vols to finish the course, finishing 20th and 22nd, respectively. Lukowski navigated the hilly course in 32:08.1 while Platt recorded a time of 32:11.8. Sophomore Denton Jones wrapped up the scoring for Tennessee, finishing in 32:33.6 for 31st place.

Sophomore Nate Jansen narrowly missed scoring for the Vols. His time of 32:46.8 was good for a 33rd-place finish. Matt Piccarello recorded a time of 33:20.0 and finished 52nd in the field of 163 runners.

The Vols will now wait until the NCAA announces its full field for the national championship race. The announcement is expected Sunday evening and will include 13 at-large teams and two individual at-large selections in addition to the automatic qualifiers from the nine regions across the country.