Probable Top Five:

SR Katelyn Greenleaf (10:00 3K Steeple; 16:30 5K; 34:38 10K)
JR Hannah Waggoner (16:55 5K; 11th South Regional XC ’14)
FR Rachael Reddy (16:23 5K; 1st USATF Jr. 5K ’15; 1st Pan Am Jr. 5K ’15)
SR Meropi Panagiotou (4:20 1500; 16:29 5K)
SR Rebecca Stover (10:29 3K Steeple; 16:49 5K)

Impact Freshmen/Transfers:

Rachael Reddy via University of Texas (16:23 5K; 1st USATF Jr. 5K ’15; 1st Pan Am Jr. 5K ’15)

Analysis:

The Alabama women are a team on the rise. They’ve been back-to-back NCAA South Region third-place finishers the last two seasons, years where the South only sent two women’s teams to the big dance. This season, the Crimson Tide must capitalize on three things: Their last season with stud Katelyn Greenleaf, their new transfer Rachael Reddy, and Florida State’s graduation losses.

Greenleaf has been an All Region performer in her first three seasons and qualified for her first NCAA track championship this spring in the steeplechase. She also showed progression by lowering her 5K best on the track by over 15 seconds. When she finished 12th in the South Region last spring, her teammate Hannah Waggoner was 11th, and the duo must team up again this fall if they want to make Coach Adam Tribble’s first NCAA qualifying squad.

The key piece of the puzzle that could carry Alabama onto Louisville in November is the addition of Texas transfer Rachael Reddy. Reddy redshirted all three seasons in Austin during her freshman campaign, but came on strong in the summer to win 5K titles at the USATF Jr. Championships and the Pan American Jr. Championships. Whether her 16:23 PR will translate into cross country success is unknown, but Reddy could be that strong number three for the Crimson Tide.

Seniors Meropi Panagiotou (19th in the South Region in 2013) and Rebecca Stover (26th in 2013) will need to finish closer to the 2013 performances than 2014 (63rd and 33rd, respectively) if they want to sneak out of the region that has been so heavily dominated by Florida State throughout the years. The Seminoles took some hard hits to graduation - seems like the perfect season for Alabama to make their mark.