CANYON, Texas (Nov. 8, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian cross country coach Wade Miller likes to set realistic goals for his teams and this season has been a good example of that.

With a young-but-talented men's squad set to race for the Eagles in 2019, Miller thought a top-four finish in the Lone Star Conference Championship race was attainable, and sure enough, that's where the Eagles finished two weeks ago in Silver City, N.M. But now the level of competition takes a steep climb.

When the Eagles toe the line in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship race at The Range, they'll face not only LSC squads – led by the host, No. 13-ranked West Texas A&M – but the full complement of teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which is considered the deepest cross country league in Division II. The RMAC includes No. 1 Colorado School of Mines, No. 3 Adams State (Colo.), No. 5 Western Colorado, No. 17 Colorado-Colorado Springs and No. 23 Colorado Christian.

The Eagles made a one-week appearance in the regional top-10 ranking earlier this season after winning the team title in the South Central Regional Preview at The Range, and Miller believes they have a shot at a top-10 finish in Saturday's 10,000-meter race, which will begin Saturday at 10:45 a.m. That's the longest distance the Eagles will run this season.

"I think we'll be ready for it," Miller said. "They've worked really hard. We have done some key workouts that we needed to get in and we're coming around at the right time. We're stronger now than we were two weeks ago."

The South Central Region race is one of eight regional meets held around the nation that will determine the field for the NCAA Division II Championships on Nov. 23 in Sacramento, Calif. The top three teams in each region will advance to the national meet, and with the strength of the South Central Region, odds are good that a handful of other squads will receive one of eight at-large bids to the national meet as well.

The top two individuals not on one of the qualifying teams also will qualify for the national meet. All individuals who finish in the top five at the regional meet and who aren't part of a qualifying team automatically will advance. There also will be eight at-large individual selections from all of Division II, to be determined on Monday after the regional races.

The Eagles' strength all season has been posting small time gaps between the teams' top runners. For example, in the LSC meet, OC's top five individual finishers – juniors Colton Meyers and Caleb Bozarth and freshmen Ethan Anthony, Owen Pearce and Colten Brown – crossed the line less than 45 seconds apart. Meyers finished 13th (earning All-LSC honors) while Brown was 27th.

They'll need a similar performance in a large field that should include about 200 runners. Joining Meyers, Bozarth, Anthony, Pearce and Brown in running for OC will be senior Kelton Reynolds and sophomore Jelte van Atten. The top 25 individual finishers will earn All-Region honors.

"There's going to be a lot of people (in the race)," Miller said. "The quality is going to be high. There is going to be a lot of depth. The top six in our region are ranked nationally. A top-10 finish would be good for us."

In five races this season, four different runners – Anthony, Pearce (twice), Bozarth and Meyers – have led the Eagles. Pearce became OC's first individual winner since 2015 when he won the South Central Regional Preview at The Range. That balance is key to OC's hopes of a top-10 finish, Miller said.

Miller sees the Eagles in a group of about six teams – including Metro State (Colo.), Fort Lewis (Colo.), Colorado Mesa, Tarleton State (Texas) and Cameron – that "are pretty close to each other" and could finish between eighth and 13th. He's hopeful a strong regional finish will serve as a springboard to next season for a squad that's only taking one senior to the meet.

"Having been on that course (at The Range), they know what to expect a little bit better in terms of how fast they can go out safely," Miller said of his runners. "Everything is set up for their best performances of the year. But it's going to be really hard."