YEAR TWO FOR NEMCC CROSS COUNTRY FEATURES THREE TRIPS TO ROCKET CITY

Year two for Northeast cross country begins at the Memphis Twilight on Aug. 30. The region championship takes place two months later.
Year two for Northeast cross country begins at the Memphis Twilight on Aug. 30. The region championship takes place two months later.
Posted: Aug 13, 2025

BOONEVILLE, Miss. - The Northeast Mississippi Community College cross country teams are mixing in some new locations to run at the start of its second year of competition.

 

The Lady Tigers and Tigers will share the same schedule once again in 2025 with five regular season events across the neighboring states of Alabama and Tennessee.

 

Both teams have a pair of nighttime races beginning with their openers on Saturday, August 30 at the City Auto Memphis Twilight Classic. The Lady Tigers and Tigers will not take the course until after 9 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

 

The other evening affair is the On Twilight at PR'ville presented by COUNTRY Financial just under one month later. It is the first of three straight appearances at the pristine John Hunt Park for Northeast.

 

"It's kind of a different tweak. It's something the kids wanted to do," said Northeast head coach Aaron Hight. "They love the night races. They wanted to get as many as we could on the schedule. With the sun down, you've got a little bit better weather."

 

The Lady Tigers and Tigers return to Huntsville, Ala., on Saturday, October 11 for the UAH Chargers Invitational. Their postseason begins at the same venue for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 22 Championship.

 

National tournament berths are up for grabs on October 24th, which will pit Northeast predominantly against members of the Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC).

 

The programs christen a busy September on the sixth at the Freed Speed Invitational hosted by Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University. This will be the initial 6K and 8K test of the season for the women and men, respectively.

 

The Lady Tigers and Tigers visit the Oakville Indian Mounds Park for the second year in a row to compete in the University of Tennessee Southern's Firehawk Invitational on Saturday, September 20.

 

"I wanted to get a couple of different venues and a couple that my returning runners are familiar with," Hight said. "We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm excited."

 

Both squads will toe the starting line with some of the top talent from across the Southeast. That includes runners from larger NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA institutions.

 

Northeast remains one of only three schools inside the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) to sponsor the sport of cross country.