Alabama cross country starts its 2018 season on Friday at Mississippi College. The men are trying to become the dominant team in the SEC, while the women are trying to move past their turbulent 2017 season.

After finishing second in the SEC Championships last year, the Alabama men’s cross country team is trying to close the gap between them and powerhouse Arkansas.

Heading into the season, the men’s team currently sits at No. 6 in the United States Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association Preseason National Coaches Poll. The Crimson Tide is one of three teams from the SEC to be inside the rankings. Defending SEC champion No. 16 Arkansas and No. 29 Ole Miss round out the ranked SEC teams.

“Last year was probably our most successful season in the past 10 years,” said senior Clay Austell. “And so, we’re looking to build off that. Last year we were second at SEC’s, and so we are trying to reach the top there.”

Austell competed in the SEC Championships last year and finished 74th.

Even though the Crimson Tide is the highest rated team in the SEC, it hasn’t finished at the top of the conference the last couple seasons.  

“Arkansas has kind of been the standard of the SEC for the last 30 to 40 years and so kind of trying to chase them and reach that top tier,” Austell said. “I definitely think we’re capable of doing that. We are putting together a good line up to reach that.”

Senior Gilbert Kigen will be returning for his senior season to help Alabama chase the goal of a national championship. The South Region Athlete of the year finished 2017 as a first team All-American for the 10,000 meters as well as a first team All-American for cross country.

“We have three top guys that were nationally elite, three All-Americans that are all returning,” Austell said. “Then we have two more recruits coming in that are going to make an immediate impact and all of us behind them just trying to fill up and fill in the depth. We are going to try to feed off of their momentum.”

While the men’s team had one of its more successful seasons in the last decade, the women fell short of expectations.

“Honestly it doesn’t look great,” said sophomore Rebecca Buteau. “There were a lot of things, like girls had injuries and just some stuff they were going through that no one could really help. We really overcame a lot.”

Overall, the women’s team had some success. It was ranked fourth in the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association South region. As a team, it finished seventh in the SEC for its fifth-straight top-seven finish at the SEC Championships.

Because of the injures that plagued the team last year, depth will be huge for the women’s team this year.

“We have about 27 girls this year, which is quite a bit but it kind of plays in your favor because it adds a lot more depth,” Buteau said. “The top seven ends up going all the way to the end.”

Both teams start their season on Friday, Aug. 31 at Mississippi College.