Mocs Ready to Host NCAA South Region Championship

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern women's cross country team has the opportunity to compete on its home course in Holloway Park for the first time this season on Saturday, Nov. 19 as the Moccasins serve as hosts. along with Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing, of the 2022 NCAA Division II South Region Championship. The Mocs last had the opportunity to compete for a region championship on their home course in 2019 as they finished one spot out of NCAA Championship qualification in fourth.
 
Head coach Stephanie Bylander has the opportunity to enter seven runners in the race and has been spending the past week and a half since the Sunshine State Conference Championship to figure out the starting lineup. The most likely starting seven for the Mocs will include juniors Ellie Fluman, Jinia Johnson and Emery Roth and sophomores Mya Stam, Emma Mussante, Julia Svartstrom and Marisa Kortright. Freshman Caitlin Beery could also be in the mix as well as she will serve as an alternate. Fluman, Mussante, Kortright, Roth and Stam were the scoring five for the Mocs at the 2022 SSC Championship with Svartstrom and Johnson finishing sixth and seventh on the team. Beery just missed out on the top seven as she finished eighth.
 
Florida Southern currently ranks ninth in the USTFCCCA South Region Poll while Lee out of Tennessee enters as the favorite at this year's event and ranks first in the region poll. The Sunshine State Conference takes up the next two spots in the poll as 2022 SSC Champion Palm Beach Atlantic ranks second and Tampa sits in third. Two more Gulf South Conference programs sit in fourth and fifth as Mississippi College is just ahead of UAH. The three programs ahead of Florida Southern are Nova Southeastern (6^th), Saint Leo (7^th) and Embry-Riddle (8^th). Lee and PBA are the only two teams from the South Region ranked in the top-30 nationally as Lee sits in 11^th while PBA rounds out the poll in 30^th.
 
The top three teams from each regional meet will automatically advance to the championship finals which will be held in Seattle, Wash. on Dec. 2 as part of the NCAA Division II Fall Festival. Ten at-large teams from throughout the country will be selected by the NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country Committee based on a number of criteria found on NCAA.org. The top two individuals who are not part of a qualifying team will also automatically advance to the championship finals as well as all individuals who finish in the top five at a regional meet and are not part of a qualifying team will automatically advance to the championship finals. An additional eight at-large individual selections will be selected by the committee. 
 
Admission to the 2022 NCAA Division II South Region Championship at Holloway Park is free so any and all fans are encouraged to attend. All of the top NCAA Division II cross country programs from throughout the South Region will descend on Lakeland Saturday morning as the Women's Championship race is scheduled for an 8:55 a.m. start.
 
The Mocs took sixth overall at the 2021 NCAA South Region Championship as Fluman led the way as she took 21^st overall. Five of the remaining six runners return this season as Mussante, Kortright, Johnson, Roth and Svartstrom all represented the Mocs at last year's event. All eight of the projected runners who could make the top-seven for the Mocs this season all have at least one year of eligibility remaining and could come back to represent FSC once again in 2023.
 
Florida Southern will hit the course Saturday morning, Nov. 19, at 8:55 a.m.