COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri's cross country programs will head to College Station, Texas to commence its postseason run with the SEC Championship, hosted by Texas A&M, on Friday morning at the Dale Watts '71 Cross Country Course, with the women's 6k starting the day at 9:08 a.m. CT and the men's 8k race at 9:50 a.m.
The Tigers will be represented by Ryder James, Drew Rogers, Blake Morris, Tyler Freiner, Declan Tunney, Joshua Allison, Jamie Mora, Brenden Heitzig, Joseph Bariola and Angus Beer. On the women's side, Rahel Broemmel, Nicole Louw, Charlotte Cullen, McKenna Revord, Natalie Barnard, Allison Newman, Anneken Viljoen, Renee Lewis, Kaia Downs and Elissa Barnard will race for MU.
"We've put in a ton of work this season and have really started to see the results because of it," head cross country coach Kyle Levermore said. "We had a strong finish from both our teams in our final race in Alabama against conference competition and I'm excited to see how we'll build on it at the SEC Championship race on Friday."
Missouri will seek its first SEC Championship title for both the men's and women's teams. Both programs have finished in third place twice – the men most recently in 2021 and the women in 2016.
The men have earned four straight top-four finishes heading into the postseason, while the women are coming off a second-place result at the Crimson Classic on October 18.
Broemmel has paced the women's team in each race during the 2024 campaign, finishing first at the season opener, 21stat the Spiked Shoe Invitational, 16th during the Gans Creek Classic and setting a career-best 20:01.3 for ninth place at the Crimson Classic. The Tigers took second place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with four runners finishing inside the top 25.
James set a new 8k career-best during the Gans Creek Classic in September, finishing in 11th with a time of 23:24.8 at the Gans Creek Classic. The junior followed this up by taking eighth at the Crimson Classic and finished in 18th at the Spiked Show Invitational in 21:01.8. To start the season, Friener earned his first collegiate win during the 6k Mizzou XC Opener in 18:23.7, leading to his first Southeastern Conference Runner of the Week honors.
The Watts Cross Country Course opened in the fall of 2014 and is Texas A&M's home course. The 2024 SEC Championships will mark the second time the Aggies have hosted the event. Following the conference postseason event, the 2024 NCAA South Central Regional will also be held at the facility for the fifth time in history.
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