51³Ô¹ÏÍø

The University of North Georgia (51³Ô¹ÏÍø) will host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional for men's and women's cross-country Nov. 4 at its Gainesville Campus.

It will mark the second NCAA cross country regional hosted by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, which welcomed the event in 2018.

"Bringing conference and NCAA championships to our campuses allows for us to not only showcase everything the University of North Georgia and our local communities offer, but it also affords for our programs the chance to have a competitive home-facility advantage," , senior associate athletic director for external operations, said. "Our cross country course has become a very popular site for large events because of the combination of a fast course that is spectator friendly in layout."

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Cross Country Course is all grass and dirt and is considered "flat and fast." It features a stadium style-finish line and includes the G.W. Bailey Amphitheater for event operations. For this competition, the course runs 6,000 meters for the women's race and 8,000 meters for the men's race.

"Our home course at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's Gainesville Campus has been transformed into a championship cross country course," 51³Ô¹ÏÍø cross country and track and field head coach said. "The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Athletics Department does a fantastic job dressing the course up and making each event a great experience for both the competitors and the fans."

Additionally, it is the fourth NCAA event 51³Ô¹ÏÍø has hosted in Hall County, including the 2022 Division II women's golf championship and the 2023 Division II women's golf South Regional. Both golf events were at Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Georgia.

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø women's cross country team earned second place at the Oct. 21 Peach Belt Conference (PBC) championship, which it also hosted. It was 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's fourth top-three finish in five events this fall. finished second individually at the PBC championship, while took 10th place.

Mills won PBC Runner of the Year honors, and earned the Elite 18 award, which is given to the student-athlete competing in each PBC championship who has the highest overall cumulative GPA. earned PBC Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors by finishing as the top freshman in the PBC championship (20th place) with a time of 18:59.