USCB runners take on NAIA's best today at national meet

Four USC Beaufort runners -- three men and one woman -- will compete today in the NAIA Cross Country National Championships in Vancouver, Wash.

Sophomores Stephen Wilson, Frank Tinsley and Nic Tones will represent the Sand Sharks in the men's race, with junior Katie Mock being the first USCB woman to compete in the cross country national championships. It's the second consecutive trip to nationals for Tones, who finished in 242nd place with a time of 27 minutes, 28 seconds last year in Kenosha, Wis. John Critchlow also qualified for nationals last year, finishing in 288th place with a time of 28:31.

The event will take place at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site, with the Cascade Collegiate Conference and Concordia (Ore.) University serving as hosts. The course has hosted a number of world-class cross country events, including the U.S. Men's and Women's Cross Country National Championships and the World Cross Country Trials.

The men race at 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST) with the women to follow.

Embry-Riddle's men and women were the only teams to earn bids from the Sun Conference by virtue of winning the conference championship races Nov. 7 at Lake Wales Country Club in Florida, but the four USCB runners claimed at-large individual berths.

The Sand Sharks opened the season with high hopes of qualifying the entire team for the national championships, but after doubling the number of individual qualifiers from a year ago, USCB coach Larry Kimball is satisfied with the third-year program's progress.

"The training for all four has gone extremely well in the past two weeks, and we are hoping they all run well and come back hungry to go back again," Kimball said in a release.