Tulane University
American Athletic Conference Championship
Cross Country Travels to Memphis for Conference Championships
Oct 30, 2019 | Cross Country
NEW ORLEANS – After wrapping up its regular season at Texas A&M, the Tulane cross country team is set to head to Memphis on Friday to compete in the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships.
The men's 8K race will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 10:50 a.m. at Shelby Farms Park.
Tulsa is the sole team that's ranked in The American this season, as the men's team currently stands in sixth in the National Coaches' Poll. Six other men's teams are receiving regional rankings, as Cincinnati is No. 16 in the Great Lakes Region, Houston is No. 7 in the South Central Region, Memphis is No. 10 in the South Region, Tulsa is No. 2 and Wichita is No. 11 in the Midwest Region and Temple is No. 3 in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Eight of the women's squads are also earning regional rankings, as Cincinnati is No. 17 in the Great Lakes region, Temple is No. 9 in the Mid-Atlantic region, Tulsa is No. 4 and Wichita State is No. 6 in the Midwest region, UConn is No. 13 in the Northeast region, Houston is No. 5 and SMU is No. 14 in the South Central Region and ECU is No. 17 in the Southeast region.
The Green Wave men recorded one-, two-, three-finishes in consecutive meets this year as sophomore Evans Kipchumba won both the UNO Cross Country Opener and Nicholls Cross Country Invitational to start the season on top and help the team to two second-place finishes in the meets.
Redshirt senior McKenzie Melius finished second in the first meet of the year, leading the Tulane women to a win at UNO, before winning the Nicholls Invitational for the second year in a row to help the Olive and Blue to a second-place finish.
The men's and women's teams each finished second overall in the LSU Invitational in the team's third meet of the year before heading to Texas A&M for a tough matchup against some of the nation's top teams.
Emmanuel Rotich won the 2018 AAC Championship last fall in New Orleans, finishing with a time of 27:06.09 in the 8K to earn his second consecutive title. Evans Kipchumba also posted a strong finish at home, recording a 15th-place finish at 28:25.47.
The men defeated Memphis, ECU, Houston and ECU to finish in sixth-place, while the women's team beat USF to finish in 11th overall in last year's standings.
Following this weekend's conference championship, the Green Wave will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday, Nov. 15 to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional.
Live coverage of Friday's races will be available on the American Digital Network via Facebook Live, while full website coverage will also be available here.
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