On the Monday morning prior to Thanksgiving, Georgia’s men’s cross country team was in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 2011 NCAA Nationals. While competing in their first Nationals meet since 2004, the Bulldogs finished 29^th out of the 31 schools, scoring 770 points in the 10-k race.

JEFF PIGG

The Bulldogs were not an automatic qualifier from the South Region after finishing 3^rd at the South Region Championships behind Florida State and Florida and had to wait to receive an at-large bid.

“It was an exciting process getting in. We calculated it out and we knew we had a good shot based off our runs earlier this year”, said sophomore Brandon Lord.

Matt Cleaver once again blazed the trail for the Bulldogs finishing in 31:09 good for 142^nd in the field of 252.

“Matt had another steady race. He was solid and I thought [he] did a good job of leading us,” said Head Coach Jeff Pigg.

Following the redshirt junior was junior Brian Detweiler clocking in at 31:36 for 187^th place. Sophomores Luke Baker (195th-31:44), Lord (206th-31:52) along with junior Nick Long (218th-32:04) completed the scoring for Georgia. Junior Brett Richardson (228th-32:11) and Senior JP Hackney (239th-32:26) rounded out the Bulldog pack in Indiana.

For Hackney, it was his final cross-country race as a Bulldog.

“JP’s last collegiate cross country race finishing off at the NCAA meet, beating Florida. That’s a pretty a good way to put a wrap on a cross country career for our team captain,” Pigg said.

Georgia finished as the top SEC team at the meet, beating out rival Florida after falling to the Gators in their previous contest.

“It’s nice beating Florida, being the top SEC team. I’m proud of the effort, not just today, but that went into this whole season and the work,” Pigg said.

The Bulldogs have improved in recent times and Pigg believes it is just a start.

“It was good to be here and it was a good meet,” Pigg said. “The years when JP and Nick were freshman we weren’t really that competitive. At this point now, we’re one of the top 30 teams in the country. The men now have that little bit of experience. We ran well and this certainly not the end. This is beginning of what we hope to do as a program.”