CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Chattanooga distance runner Lesley Boyd will take her show on the road to the NCAA Cross Country National Championship Saturday morning in Madison, Wis.
 
"It's super exciting and super kind of bittersweet," Boyd said of reaching the nationals in her last season. "It's been a goal of mine since my freshman year. If I could go any time it would be my last year."
 
The second-year graduate student is in her sixth season with UTC due to the COVID season and a redshirt year. She is a two-time cross country all-region runner and a two-time All-Southern Conference honoree.
 
Boyd is the first Chattanooga runner since Teghan Henderson in 2013 to advance to the National Championship and the ninth UTC women's runner overall.
 
She finished 10^th last week at the NCAA South Region Championship, earning all-region honors, and was the No. 2 individual qualifier out of the region. Boyd led the Mocs throughout the season, finishing in the Top 10 in every race in 2024.
 
"To just cap it all off with a big accomplishment and accomplishing a big goal together has been a really exciting time," Boyd said. "To be able to do it not only for myself but also to see my coaches get excited and see my teammates get excited and former UTC athletes has been super special and a sweet time."
 
One former Mocs runner sent her a message that "it's anybody's race. You never know what's going to happen." More advice was to put herself in the mix, give it her best and see what happens.
 
Boyd's husband Jonathan, a former Chattanooga runner and winner of the 2024 Battlefield Marathon, will be on hand to cheer her on.
 
The women's 6-kilometer race begins at 10:20 a.m. Eastern time on the Timothy Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis. Weather at race time is predicted to be 35 degrees and cloudy with winds out of the WNW at five miles per hour. Live scoring is available online at GoMocs.com.