Loyola distance runners will compete at SSAC Championships Friday

NEW ORLEANS — The cross country teams of Loyola University New Orleans will compete Friday in the Southern States Athletic Conference Championships at Clinton, Miss., a suburb west of Jackson.
        

The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 8:30 a.m. CST, followed by the women's 6,000-meter race at 9:30 a.m. The meet venue is Choctaw Trails (5990 McRaven Rd, zip code 39209). 
 

[Live Results]
 

Competing for the Loyola men will be Drake Breland, Dylan Brown, Alastair Casler, Aubrey Gibson, Jacob Kennedy, Jace Luckoski, Adam Merkle, Jacob Mullis and Cole Savoy. Alternates are Daniel Miller and Cris Velasquez. Brown, Kennedy, Luckoski and Savoy earned second-team All-SSAC based on their finishes at the 2025 meet, and Geoff Masanet was named SSAC Co-Coach of the Year.
 

In the most recent meet, the UAH Chargers Invitational Oct. 24 at Huntsville, Ala., Kennedy set a Loyola record for 8,000 meters (25 minutes, 24.9 seconds), and the times of Luckoski (25:34.8) and Brown (25:37.5) ranked second and third on Loyola's all-time 8K performers list.
 

Competing for the Loyola women will be Kinslie Badon, Genevieve Blanc, Vivian Bravo, Sophia Freeze, Meera Hijazi, Sela Myers, Caitlyn Summers, Noah Watson and Ashlynn Yonge. Sarah Haas is an alternate.
 

Blanc's 24:12.5 at the UAH meet made her the No. 3 Loyola woman all-time in the 6K. Also at that meet, Hijazi moved to No. 5 on the Loyola list with 24:24.8, and Yonge was No. 7 at 24:34.1. Watson is the sixth-ranked Loyola woman in the 6K after her 24:32.9 at the Watson Classic at Choctaw Trails Oct. 16.
        

Other SSAC members in the meet will be Abraham Baldwin, Andrew, Blue Mountain Christian, Brewton-Parker Christian, Dalton State (women only), Faulkner, Mobile, Tennessee Southern, Thomas (Ga.), Xavier (N.O.) and William Carey. Winning teams and a few individuals will advance to NAIA nationals Nov. 20 at Vancouver, Wash.
        

Loyola's men placed second, and the women were sixth at the 2025 SSAC meet at Oakville, Ala. Mobile's men and William Carey's women won the team titles. Mobile won by one point over Loyola.
        

The Friday temperature at the start of the men's race is expected to be in the low 60s with sunny skies.
 

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