The Ole Miss men’s cross country team travels to Louisville, Kentucky, for the NCAA Championships on Saturday. The Rebels are making their second appearance in as many years at the Championships.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championships,” cross country coach Ryan Vanhoy said. “This is the deepest, most competitive meet of the year, and we enter looking to build on some upward momentum gained from the regional. It’s a great honor to be one of the 31 teams in the field, and we plan to make the most of it.”

The Rebels joined Arkansas and Georgia as the only SEC men’s teams in the past five years to earn back-to-back NCAA Championship berths. This season, the only SEC representatives are Ole Miss and Arkansas.

Ole Miss punched its ticket by placing runner-up at the NCAA South Regional to claim one of the two automatic berths, along with Florida State.

A program-record five All-Region selections led the Rebels at the regional in junior MJ Erb, sophomore Sean Tobin, junior Robert Domanic, junior Craig Engels and sophomore Mark Robertson.

All five will make the trip to Louisville to compete in the NCAA Championship, as well as junior Trevor Gilley, sophomore Ryan Manahan and senior Ian Carter.

Vanhoy’s squad will look to improve upon last year’s performance, when Tobin broke his foot early in the race and the Rebels finished 29th in the program’s first team appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.