PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's and women's cross country teams will look to qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships this weekend as they compete at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships held on the campus of Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, Texas.

Saturday's South Regional Championship meet will begin with the women's 6K race at 10 a.m. CDT (9 a.m. Mountain) with the men's 10K race to follow at 11 a.m. CDT (10 a.m. Mountain) at the LCU Chaparral Cross Country Course.

The race will feature the all the schools that have cross country from both the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Lone Star Conference. The 25 finishers in both the men's and women's races will earn USTFCCCA All-South Central Region honors. The top three teams in each gender and the top five individuals that are not part of a qualifying team in each gender at the regional meet will automatically qualify for this year's NCAA Division II National Championships Meet, which is scheduled for Nov. 18 in Joplin, Mo.

Entering Saturday's South Central Regional Championships, both of CSU Pueblo's cross country teams are either nationally ranked or receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA Division II rankings as the Pack women are ranked No. 8, while the Pack men are one of the three teams receiving votes as they earned eight votes this week.

The RMAC dominates the national rankings heading into this weekend's regional championships as five of the Top 10 women's teams in Division II hail from the league with Adams State being the highest ranked at No. 2, while Mines is third, Western Colorado is fourth, CSU Pueblo is eighth and UCCS is 10th. On the men's side, four of the Top 7 teams are from the league as Mines is No. 1, Adams State is No. 4, Western Colorado is No. 6 and Colorado Christian is No. 7.

At the RMAC Championships two weeks ago at Denver's Washington Park, the Pack women recorded a fourth place finish as they tallied 115 points, while the Pack men recorded a sixth place finish as they scored 163 points. Adams State captured the women's RMAC title with 32 points, while Mines took home the men's RMAC title with 32 points.

On the women's side at the RMAC Championships, the Pack were led by junior Helen Braybrook (Frieston, United Kingdom/Oakham School) as she finished in the ninth place with a time of 21:31.8 to earn First-Team All-RMAC honors. In addition to Braybrook, senior Margot Thomas-Gatel (Chapet, Ile-de-France, France/Notre Dame Les Oiseaux) placed 19th with a time of 21:31.8, while sophomore Jadyn Herron (Queen Creek, Ariz./Casteel) was 21st with a time of 22:03.8 and junior Sarah Renberg (Fresno, Calif./Edison) placed 30th with a time of 22:32.0. All three of those runners earned Second-Team All-RMAC honors.

The other finishers for the Pack women at the RMAC Championships were sophomore Elodie Hebert (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cegep de Sherbrooke), who was 40th with a time of 22:49.8, while freshman Sophie Kretschmer (Aschersleben, Germany) was 44th with a time of 22:59.4 and redshirt freshman Crystal Armijo (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo East) was 46th with a time of 23:00.9.

Meanwhile, on the men's side at the RMAC Championships, the Pack were led by junior Reece Sharman-Newell (Hampshire, England) as he recorded a time of 24:56.0 to finish in 15th place and earn Second-Team All-RMAC honors. Graduate student Matisse Virey (Meyzieu, France/Lycee Charlie Chaplin) was the next finisher for the Pack as he crossed the finish line in 24th place with a time of 25:03.2 to also earn Second-Team RMAC honors.

In addition to Sharman-Newell and Virey, junior Daniel Beam (Rio Rancho, N.M./Rio Rancho) just missed All-RMAC honors as he finished 30th with a time of 25:19.2, while junior Kaleb Beloy (Anchorage, Alaska/South Anchorage) was 38th with a time of 25:35.7 and senior Richie Roberds (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge) was 61st with a time of 26:11.6. Rounding out the finishers for the Pack men were junior Kaleb Tipton (Lawton, Okla./Eisenhower) and redshirt freshman Aaron Roberds (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge), who finished 86th and 100th respectively with times of 26:50.8 and 27:47.3.

At last year's NCAA South Central Regional Championships, the Pack women recorded a fourth place finish as they placed their Top 5 runners inside the Top 30, while the Pack men posted a sixth place finish, including three runners placing between 21st and 50th. The Pack women also had a program-best sixth place finish at the 2022 NCAA Division II National Championships.

Thomas-Gatel and Braybrook each earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors for the Pack women as they placed 18th and 22nd respectively at the regional championship meet. Sharman-Newell was the men's top finisher as he finished 21st to earn All-Region honors.