ST. AUGUSTINE – Last year the Flagler College women’s soccer team finished second at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Charlotte, North Carolina, and will look to have similar success on Saturday at the University of Montevallo.
By finishing second last year, the Saints automatically qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championship, which was held at Spokane, Washington. The top three teams from the regional along with the top three runners not on teams qualifying for nationals will go as individuals.
The Saints are coming off of a third place finish at the Peach Belt Conference Championship two weeks ago (Nov. 8). Hanna Ramirez, Taylor Strekel and Lauren Rodriguez earned all-conference honors and will look to lead the Saints on Saturday.
Flagler is ranked No. 4 in the latest (Nov. 11) United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association Southeast Regional Ranking. Peach Belt Conference champion, and regional host, Montevallo, is ranked No. 1 in the region. South Atlantic Conference champion Wingate University is ranked second. The Conference Carolinas champion, King College, is ranked No. 5.
Montevallo’s Cheyenne Thompson finished second last year at the regional with a 6K time of 22:11.8 and is the top returner from that event.
There will be 33 teams competing, a total of 223 runners. The race starts at 11:45 Central and results can be viewed at http://www.xpresstiming.com/Live/2014/XC/DII/.