No. 26 Razorbacks challenge for NCAA Championship berth

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 26 Arkansas enters the NCAA South Central Region having won the past 12 region team titles. The Razorbacks will race over a 6,000m distance on Texas A&M’s Watts course at 9 a.m. on Friday, November 15.

The top two teams will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships that will be held on Saturday, November 23, in Madison, Wisconsin. With nine regions, 18 teams will gain entry by placing among the top two. Additional teams will be selected at-large to fill out a 31-team field.

Live results will be available at Flash Results. There is no live stream of the region meet.

Over the past 12 victories for Arkansas in the South Central Region, Texas has been runner-up seven times. The Razorbacks and Longhorns rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the South Central Region rankings heading into the meet with Tulane and LSU ranked third and fourth. LSU has finished third the past two seasons.

“Two of us out of four teams in contention will advance automatically,” noted Arkansas assistant coach Lance Harter. “I think Tulane might have enough points via the season to possibly be eligible as an at-large team. But I don’t think Texas, LSU, or ourselves have enough scalps to advance if we’re not among the top two teams.”

Teams are limited to seven runners in the region meet and Arkansas’ squad will include six Razorbacks who competed in the SEC Championships.

“We have three outstanding runners in Paityn Noe, Sydney Thorvaldson, and Mia Cochran,” noted Harter of the trio that placed 3-10-11 in the SEC meet. “So, that’s our blessing as far as attacking the team challenge. But, it will basically come down to our number four and five runners taking care of business.

“Olivia Pielemeier has done a great job of improving this season with a lot of growing up since last year. Then we basically have three people who can fill those shoes in the number five position.”

Sydney Thorvaldson won the 2023 South Central Region individual title while Mia Cochran finished second. In 2022, Cochran placed fourth with Thorvaldson in 12th place. Mackenzie Rogers placed 23rd a year ago while Paityn Noe did not race.

“Sydney is coming off a surgery,” said Harter. “Fortunately, she’s recovered from that very, very well. We delayed her opening to be at the SEC meet. I think she exceeded all expectations. She will continue to improve with more races.

“She’s the consummate racer. She always races above and beyond her training. So, hopefully, she’ll make another step forward and ultimately get her ready for the national championships.”

Regarding Noe’s sophomore season, Harter noted: “Paityn is an outstanding talent who is very gifted mentally as far as stepping up to the plate. She fears no one, but respects everyone. She’ll have her hands full with a couple of Kenyan athletes that are at Tulane now, but she loves that challenge.”

Additional Arkansas entries for the South Central Region meet include Tiana LoStracco, Olivia Pielemeier, and Bradley Weimer.

LoStracco previously competed in the Midwest Region while at Bradley and placed 42nd in 2022. Weimer, a transfer from Drury, raced in the Division II Midwest Region the past two seasons, placing eighth in 2022 and 29th in 2023.

Pielemeier, who placed fourth among the Razorbacks in the SEC Championships is contesting her first region meet.

“It’s clearly understood we need to address it as each of our seven runners taking care of their assignment and if they do that they’ll be among the top two teams and advance to the national championship,” stated Harter.

Arkansas will race on the same course they recently contested the SEC Championships. Harter notes that will be an edge for the Razorbacks.

“I think it’s a huge advantage for us,” said Harter. “Our kids are familiar with how the course lays out. We talked with our number 4-5-6 runners that it might be a good idea not starting out too fast. I think our adrenaline flow at the SEC meet got a hold of us early in that race.

“Fortunately, we were able to get some things done that we needed to, but it could have been a much better outcome.”

South Central Region Rankings