Coming off an eighth-place finish by the men and a 10th-place finish by the women, the Valdosta State cross country teams head to the NCAA South Regional on Saturday in Lakeland, Fla., at Florida Southern College.

The men’s 10K race begins at 7:30 a.m., followed by the women’s 6K race at 8:45 a.m. There will be live scoring of each race by clicking on the link at the top of the page for the regional central.

The men’s field features No. 19-ranked Lee as the Flames won their fourth straight Gulf South Conference title on Nov. 4. The Flames bested upset-minded Mississippi College, while Lee’s Christian Noble took home the league title for the second straight season. Along with Lee, Tampa, out of the Sunshine State Conference, is ranked No. 24 in the latest rankings. Lee is No. 1 in the region, while Embry-Riddle is No. 2 and Mississippi College is No. 3. Alabama-Huntsville sits fourth regionally, while Montevallo is eighth and Union is ninth.

The top three teams in each race will advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship and there will be eight at-large bids overall from across the country. The NCAA Division II National Championship is Saturday, Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh.

On the men’s side, senior Jaison Morning will compete in his final regional as he finished 29th at the Gulf South Conference Championships to pace the team with a time of 26:25.48. It was the best finish by a Blazer since 2014 when Jesse Prince finished seventh.

Along with Morning, VSU will send a total of eight men’s athletes to the regional, including an alternate. The team consists of freshman Brishen House, junior Chance Roe, freshman David Gunn, Morning, freshman Kevin Favard, freshman Khiro Hoilett, sophomore Nick Flatt and junior Caleb Watson is the alternate.

The VSU women are coming off a 10th-place finish at the GSC Championship as freshman Makenzee Page paced the team finishing 47th with a time of 20:32.37 for a personal record and became the third Blazer to lead the team this season.

The regional features No. 24-ranked Lee, who won its second straight conference title, while Tampa is receiving votes in the latest poll. In the region rankings, Lee is the top-ranked team, followed by Tampa, Embry-Riddle, Alabama-Huntsville and Union rounds out the top five who all are competing this weekend. Also competing is No. 8 Montevallo and No. 9 West Florida.

For the regional, the VSU women take eight runners, including an alternate as Page, along with sophomore Angie Cipriani, junior Jamie Ford, freshman Kailey Brough, sophomore Olivia Rosener, freshman Samantha Murray and sophomore Amanda Allred is the alternate.