EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Jared McNeil will represent Tarleton this weekend when he travels to Evansville, Ind. to compete in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships that will take place on Saturday, Nov. 21 on the University of Southern Indiana campus.
“Jared is ready to have a great race,” head cross country coach Pat Ponder said. “He is as ready as he will ever be and I know that he will go into the race ready to compete.”
Ponder feels that McNeil can go into the national meet and be very competitive and that he can have a good time as well. He and McNeil both have a three-tier goal when heading to Evansville.
“First we have the goal of Jared becoming an All-American by finishing in the top-40,” Ponder said. “The second goal is to execute the race plan and follow it. Finally, Jared just needs to enjoy the fact that he is at the national championships and that he is one of the best 187 runners in all of Division II.”
McNeil earned the trip to the national meet after finishing fifth-place overall at the South Central Regional Meet in Abilene a few weeks ago. He completed the 10-kilometer course with a time of 31:32.23, averaging 5:04.6 minutes per mile. His fifth-place finish earned him all-region honors for the second straight year and his first trip to the national championship meet.
McNeil finished ninth overall at the Lone Star Conference Championships in Canyon back on Oct. 24. The Saginaw native finished the 8-kilometer course in 26:21.0 to earn all-LSC honors in consecutive years as well.
During the regular-season, McNeil has finishes of 18th, third and first overall. His first-place finish came in Denton on Oct. 2 at the North Texas Cross Country Invitational after finishing the 8K course in 25:19.00. He placed third overall at the Abilene Christian Naimadu Classic on Oct. 10, finishing the four mile course in 19:53.40. McNeil began the season with the 18th-place finish at the Missouri Southern Stampede on Sept. 19 in Joplin, Mo. There he finished the 8K course in 24:35.12.
“I can't think of a better way for Jared to cap-off the season that he had than being at the national championships,” Ponder said. “He is one of the most decorated distance runners that Tarleton has ever had and getting to compete at the national level is a great accomplishment for him.”
Keep up with Jared and his weekend at the national championships as he blogs about what is going on in Evansville, Ind. Catch-up with his blog by logging onto www.tarletontalks.blogspot.com.
