The FIU Cross Country team is set to compete at the Conference USA Championships, making the short drive up to Boca Raton to race at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park Saturday morning.
 
Sherilene Gelderblom looks to once again garner All-Conference honors, leading the women's team who will be in contention for the podium Saturday morning. Anais Da Silva, Brittany Watson, Jessica Gray, and Rahel Gebretsadik rounded out the top five for FIU at their final regular season meet at USF.
 
"I tell them all the time that no one cares about the regular season. That's more for personal accolades, bragging rights, or things to get your confidence up," said head distance coach Jermaine Felix. "I think they took that to heart, and treated it as more of a progression, getting ready for the last month of the season."
 
The women's 5K is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., while the men's 8K will follow at 9:15. There will be three all-conference teams determined at the championship meet. The first seven finishers (1-7) will be designated as All-C-USA first team, followed by second team honors going to finishers 8-14 and runners 15-21 are third-team honorees. Also, for both men and women, awards will be given for the individual champion (first-place finisher), Outstanding Senior (highest-finishing senior), freshman of the meet (highest-finishing freshman) and Coach of the Year.
 
Gelderblom has paced FIU in each of her races this season, including a victory at the UCF Alumni XC Invitational. The women's team picked up victories at UCF and most recently USF, while placing fifth of twenty-seven teams at the Mountain Dew Invitational in Florida.
 
"Sherilene, along with the rest of our time – I try to be very specific with them about their assignments," said Felix. "She's definitely done a good job of being consistent. That's all we can ask for. I think her, along with the rest of our team, has been able to do that from August to October."
 
The men will be led be Eliseo Torres and Daniel Areces, who have each significantly lowered their PRs this season. Torres, a freshman, ran 27:11 at the Mountain Dew Invitational earlier this season, and led the team at USF. Areces also set his PR at UF, running 26:54.
 
"Each team has their own goals as individuals and as a team. Although it's a smaller amount of people, a smaller amount of variables – the concept is still the same. The effort is still the same. They're going to have to work together as a team to achieve the goals we have."
 
South County Regional Park is a familiar sight for many Panthers. In addition to running the season opener there hosted by FAU, many athletes who attended high school in Florida competed there at meets hosted by Spanish River High School.
 
"We're hoping that the South Florida conditions, the familiarity, will give us an advantage," said Felix. "The majority of all our student athletes that are from Florida are familiar with the course. They know the loop. They understand it. But at the end of the day, it's a fight, us versus the other teams, and the course is just the backdrop. We have to win those team battles."
 
"I'm just excited to see what they have in store when it counts."
 
2017 CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIPS MEET INFORMATION (all times Eastern)
2018 Conference USA Cross Country Championship Page
Live Results
Men's 8,000-meter Race: 9:15 a.m.
Women's 5,000-meter Race: 8:30 a.m.
Course location: 11200 Park Access Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33498