World University Games 10,000m finalist Farah Abdulkarim helped lead his University of Mississippi Rebels to a second straight victory at the Southeastern Conference Championships. The graduate of Glebe Collegiate had been the lead runner for Ole Miss most of the race before he being outkicked by teammate Waleed Suliman. Abdulkarim would finish fourth in a time of 22 minutes and 59.4 seconds.
A little further north, Owen Day was also part of a conference champion team as his Eastern Michigan Eagles out ran the competition to win the Mid American Conference after a seventh place finish in 2018. Individually, Day placed 10th in a time of 25 minutes and 49.0 seconds over the eight kilometre course. Day joins fellow Lion Joshua Karanja as multiple MAC team champions for Eastern Michigan.
On the west coast, Shona McCulloch placed 12th at the PAC 12 Conference Championships to help her Washington Huskies to a second place overall finish. Finishing in 20 minutes and 0.4 seconds, McCulloch’s finish was a stark improvement over the 2018 championships where she placed 40th.
Next up for all three runners are the NCAA Regional Championships on November 15. McCulloch and the Huskies head to Colfax, WA for the West Regional, Day and the Eagles will be in DeKalb, Ill for the Great Lakes Regional and Abdulkarim and the Rebels head south to Tallahassee, Fla for the South Region Championships. All three will be hoping to secure a berth in the NCAA Cross Country Championships set for November 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana.