South Region Cross Country Blog

2. Florida State-With a very solid 5 runners packing it in between 10-20 they are a safe bet at 2nd in this region. If rumours of Mark Buckingham being granted another year of eligibilty are true this could be a top 20 team at NCAA's.  Buckingham was 8th last year in the region.  They have Gabart returning who was 10th, Daniel Roberts who ran 3:45 outdoors and was  15th in the region and then they follow with Matt Leeder who as a freshmen was top 20 in the region and will close with Mr. Michael Fout the 2007 Footlocker champ.  I wonder if FSU can ever pull off the triple crown.

3.Auburn - Just saw their recruting class and I had to make a change and bump them up two spots and rewrite their preview. They will hit it really hard up front with returning regional champ felix kibioywo, who outdoors won the SEC 1500 and made the final of the NCAA 5000. New addition Elkanah Kibet the NJCAA outdoor 10,000 champ will bring a very nice 1-2 to the tigers. With their Belgian kid who ran 13:55 outdoors at number three, Auburn matches up with Alabama and FSU very nice. Now here is where things chance I had them weak at 4 and 5 but finding out they signed Girma Mesecho changes a lot. A top ten footlocker kid for Auburn, that is crazy. Looks like the south region just got deeper. At five they have Scott Novack a 9:00 steepler and 14:20 5000 guy , and the rumor of an Aussie proved wrong as it ended up they got a Kiwi at six. This team could make NCAA's

4. Belmont. Last year was supposed to be their year but injuries and such took the wind out of their sail. They ended up with a very good regional meet in 4th position but I know they wanted a national berth. This could  be the year, they return almost the same team as last and are being quiet about who they brought on board and where they are competing. Come on Belmont go to Pre nats and light it up. I want four teams from the south at the meet

5. Florida is here in 5th only because I don't know when they have ever been lower than this. They have a solid lead with Jeremy Criscione, who was an individual qualifier to the NCAA meet last year and will follow him, with my pick for  break out star of the year, Sean Blaney. Following these 2 could be anyone else on the roster as it is young and unproven. Florida is rolling out the year with a new coach as well in Todd Morgan.

6. Tennessee-George Watts is a bad ass and a quality coach. I almost put them 5th just because of this. My guess is they will be led by a very talented freshmen in Joe Franklin and will follow him up with a bunch of guys none of you on the national scene will ever here of again. Guys like Denton Jones. These guys however will run with Volunteer pride and scrap for every position they can.

7. Mississippi State. Steve Dudley is awesome. This guy used to build boats and now he builds good cross country and track teams at Mississippi State University. I heard Bubba Franks  (sounds like a great name for a hot dog) is now coaching the cross team so we will see. Not sure why their freshmen Blankenship left, his loss I guess. This crew recruits hard, coaches hard and is starting to get a respectable team together in Starkville.

8. Georgia-Jeff Pigg up and moved to one of the coolest little towns in the south, Athens Georgia. He moved to a fun town, with a nice campus and the number 1 football team in the country in the pre season. He also moved to a program whose men's cross needs some new life. (Had to edit this  as it is not true) If the talk of Girma Mesecho going here are true then Pigg has at least one guy with a shot to make NCAA's, if not, then recruit Jeff, recruit hard! So Jeff recruit man and take that women's team to terra haute!

9. Georgia Tech. Engineers make bank. They had a guy make nationals last year that no one had ever heard of before, so obviously coach Drosky knows what he is doing

10. put the remaining teams in a hat and pull out a name...UT Chatanooga......great little town with a coach who is rough around the edges but a great guy