Southern XC wraps season

 
During the fall athletic season track and field athletes usually rest to prepare for the spring when they compete but the norm doesn’t apply to Southern track athletes.
Monday, Southern men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Clinton, Miss., to compete in the 2012 Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.
“I was just looking forward to them competing as hard as they can before we go into the indoor season,” Johnson said.
The Men finished last with an overall total of 217 points and the Women’s team also finished last with an overall total of 232 points.
Alabama State women’s team finished first for the second consecutive year while Mississippi Valley State took the runner up crown.
In the Men’s division, Mississippi Valley State took first place having three top five finishers edging out Prairie View A&M by two points.
Although the Jaguars finished in last place in both categories head coach Brian Johnson feels that the work will pay off in the spring.
Angelica Caraballo was the fastest of the Southern Women finishing 22^nd in the 5k with a time of 20:27.83.
“She’s one of the fastest this year of all of my girls along with Amber Crews those two girls have been running really well this season,” Johnson said.
Crews was the next in line to finish out of the five runners competing finishing in 34^th place with a time of 20:55.65.
In the men’s race, Southern’s Willie Williams, the only designated distance runner on the team, finished 21^st overall in the 8k with a time of 28:16.59.
After Williams, next to cross the finish line for the Jaguars was Daniel Simon who finished 37^th with a time of 30:35.14.
Followed by John Haynes (50) with a time of 34:32.42, Jody Shepard (54) with a time of 36:54.28 and Victor Nichols (55) taking last place with a time of 45:19.50
It is safe to say that the cross-country season is off-season training for the Indoor and Outdoor season in the spring.
Out of all the runners on the team there is only one designated cross-country runner on the team.
“We are just built for indoor and outdoor we are not built for cross country,” Johnson said.
The last time Southern cross country saw success in the SWAC championships was 2003.
“Cross country is probably not our strongest point we are more of a indoor and outdoor type track and field team,” Johnson said. “Which indicates we are a better track and field team then cross country and we just haven’t been focusing enough on cross country to be competitive at it.”
With a new track on campus, Southern track and field is hopeful that all aspects of cross-country in the future will be more competitive.