For Vanderbilt's cross country teams, this fall's season served as an opportunity for improvement and hard-fought finishes. Looking back, the men's and women's teams accomplished exactly that. As the epitome of student athletes, the runners found success on the course despite being the only non-scholarship team in the Southeastern Conference.

Although a number of runners barely missed qualifying for the NCAA Nationals, the women's team turned in a convincing seventh place finish at the NCAA South Regionals, moving up four places from last season, while the men ran 13th, one slot up from last season.

Throughout the season, the Commodores were led by freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors alike, as a number of runners consistently contributed to Vanderbilt's successes. On the women's side, sophomore standout Rita Jorgensen led the Commodores with a 14th-place finish at the South Regionals. In addition, Jorgensen won the Belmont/VU Opener and the Commodore Classic earlier this season, while posting a top 20 finish at the SEC Championships as well.

Recently, Jorgensen was named to the 2008 Division I South Region Women's USTFCCCA All-Region Team. Redshirt freshman Kristabel Doebel-Hickok finished 27th in the same South Regional race, and ran a personal best in the SEC Championships early last month. Turning in the fourth-best freshman performance on the course, Doebel-Hickok was named to the All-SEC freshmen team.

On the men's side, senior Rob Whiting and junior Thomas Davis paced the Commodores this season, alongside the rest of the squad. Together, Davis and Whiting led Vanderbilt to a 13th-place finish at South Regionals. Davis also led the men's team to an 11th-place finish at the SEC Championships with a top 45 finish. Both runners were instrumental as leaders throughout the entire season.

"I'm the type of runner who runs from the back, hitting pretty even mile splits and picking guys off from the back," said senior Rob Whiting. "Thomas would lead our other top three guys early on, and I would join them around mile three, pulling them along with me as I came up from behind."

For coach Steve Keith, both squads showed outstanding dedication and commitment by running together and constantly improving their performances from race to race. This constant focus allowed the runners to turn in impressive times throughout the season, exemplifying their success on the course.

Together, the men's and women's teams are looking to the upcoming winter months as a time for building core strength and developing technique in their running styles.