MC Men’s Cross Country Headed to Nationals
After a "lights out" race on Saturday, the Choctaws are Sacramento-bound.
The Mississippi College men’s cross country team is heading to Sacramento, California for nationals after placing third in regionals.
The Choctaws placed third in the NCAA Division II South Regional meet in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday, November 9. The top three teams at regionals qualify for nationals in Sacramento, California.
The Gulf South Conference was represented by all three of the top teams, pushing the Sunshine State Conference out of the national race.
Lee University won the meet with a score of 39. Alabama-Huntsville finished second once again with a score of 63. MC came in third with a score of 81. Florida Southern came in fourth ten points later, with Embry-Riddle almost 40 points behind.
Sam Wilhem, a senior from Alabama-Huntsville, claimed first place in the meet with a time of 30:15.99. Christian Balcer led the Choctaws, finishing in 31:14.1 and securing sixth place overall. Cooper Parmer followed closely behind, just seven seconds back, earning 11th place. Senior Braedon Methvin extended his final cross country season, finishing 12th, just under a second behind Parmer. Both Balcer and Parmer set personal bests during the race.
Brock Kelly and Preston Speed, two more seniors, both finished with personal bests in 24th and 28th, respectively. The pair rounded out MC’s scoring five. Juniors Carson Smith and Wyatt Whipp finished 39th and 47th. Balcer and Whipp both have one more season after this year, and Smith has two.
The men's race featured 134 participants, with the top five finishers separated by just 59 seconds. The day began hot and humid, but by the time the race started, the weather had cooled down.
Balcer was proud of the team’s performance. “I am most proud of the team truly buying in today,” Balcer said. “We were willing to hurt to achieve what we wanted and it was evident by the looks on our faces. Everyone knew the goal and the team ran lights out today. Not one person had a bad race!”
Balcer described the weekend using Psalm 133:1. “One of the leaders on our team who has had an amazingly consistent year shared Psalm 133:1 with us the night before,” Balcer said. “It says, ‘Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!’ That was our goal to ‘dwell in unity,’ and I think that verse is a great way to describe this weekend’s experience.”
As far as looking ahead, Balcer said he’s excited to be in California with his boys. “They are some of my closest friends and we have watched ourselves fight for one another to get to this point,” Balcer said.
Balcer believes California will be a physical meet. “People will be shoved and knocked down so we need to do our best and stay out of that trouble,” Balcer said. “If we replicate this past Saturday’s poise in the midst of chaos, I think we will place fairly well. It will be nice to see us place high after being unranked this season.”
The team is set to race again Saturday, November 23 in Sacramento against the best of Division II.
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