Tallahassee, FL - The Florida State cross country teams (Women- No. 9/ Men- No. 21) will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for the 2009 NCAA South Regional Championships. Host Alabama will welcome a total of 47 schools to the Harry Pritchett Course November 14 for the men's 10k run at 10:00 a.m. and the women's 6K beginning at 11:15 a.m.

Women's head coach Karen Harvey will lead the Seminoles on the warpath to defend their two straight regional championships and earn another automatic qualification to nationals with junior Pilar McShine and newcomer Pasca Cheruiyot guiding the squad. Freshmen Jessica Parry and Amanda Winslow alongside Jennifer Dunn will also look to post points for the `Noles in their first regional championship.

"We will be looking to qualify for NCAA's Saturday," Coach Harvey said. "The team will have a specific race plan and we hope to execute that as easily as possible. At this point we would like to save our best race for NCAA's, but we need to officially qualify first."

On the men's front, head coach Bob Braman looks to better his team's third-place finish from 2008 while battling for an invitation to nationals for the sixth consecutive year. Captains Matt Leeder and Daniel Roberts are expected to lead the Seminoles with newcomer Ciaran O'Lionard, sophomore Mike Fout and ACC Rookie of the Year Wes Rickman looking to post points.

"This is what we've been waiting for," Coach Braman said. "All of our training over the last three months has been focused on regionals and nationals. For the last six years we've hit it right and ran well at regionals in order to punch our ticket to nationals. We're looking to keep that streak going. Not too many programs can boast a seven-year streak of national appearances. For the first time all season the guys have been given some rest so that we'll have fresh legs for Saturday. I can't wait! It's my favorite time of year."