Rice Women Wins NCAA South Central Cross Country Regional Title
Nov. 10, 2007
HOUSTON, Texas - The No. 16 Rice women made school history on Saturday, winning the program's first NCAA South Central Regional Championship and claiming an automatic bid to the national meet as the Owls scored 54 points at Fayetteville, Ark. Heading into the meet, the Owls ranked second in the region behind host and 10th-ranked Arkansas, but upset the Southeastern Conference champion Razorbacks on their home course on Saturday. Arkansas finished with 70 points and was followed closely by Baylor's 75 points. Texas A&M was fourth with 140, while Texas wrapped up the top five with 148. Rice produced another tremendous team performance as the top six Owls all finished within 35 seconds of one another. Freshman Allison Pye (Cypress Creek HS) led the Rice pack and finished sixth overall, completing the 6K course in 20:55.1. Sophomore Nicole Mericle (John Cooper School) edged freshman Becky Wade (Dallas, Texas) at the line to take ninth in 21:09.4. Wade placed 10th in 21:10.7. The senior trio of Callie Wells, Lennie Waite and Marissa Daniels were next for Rice. Wells (The Woodlands HS) was 13th in 21:21.9, and Waite (Austin, Texas) was 16th in 21:27.3 to close out the scoring. Daniels (Pearland HS) battling leg cramps down the stretch was 17th in 21:30.5. Sophomore Britany Williams (San Antonio, Texas) finished 37th overal in 22:15.4. Winning in the field of 120 runners was SMU's fantastic freshman Silje Fjortoft, who took the gold in 20:34.2, a full 11 seconds ahead of second-place Nicole Jones of Baylor. Arkansas's Denise Barjiachi was third in 20:48.6. Fjortoft, who two weeks ago was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year, earned All-Region honors for her effort and becomes the second SMU student-athlete to win the race in as many years, as Rachael Forish won the event a year ago. Fjortoft now advances to the NCAA Championships, Monday, Nov. 19, in Terre Haute, Ind. SMU's Sierra Anderson also earned All-Region honors, finishing 19th in 21:37.5. The time was a lifetime best by 23 seconds for Anderson. Jessa Simmons was 32nd in a season-best 22:06.5, while Ilyssa Pettigrew notched a lifetime-best 22:22.6 to finish 40th. Kelsey Howard also recorded a personal best, finishing 93rd in 24:17.8. Krystal Rodriguez rounded out the SMU squad, finishing 103rd in a season-best 24:37.2.
With the victory, the Owls earn one of two automatic bids from the region for the NCAA Cross Country Championships to be held on Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind. NCAA SOUTH CENTRAL REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS C-USA TEAM RESULTS SMU FINISHERS TULANE FINISHERS HOUSTON FINISHERS
Tulane Takes 9th at Regional and records first top-10 finish in school history The Green Wave scored a total of 239 points and averaged a time of 22:46.92 among scorers for the meet in the 6K race. The ninth place finish at the regional meet comes two weeks after the Wave took sixth at the Conference USA Championship meet. "We wanted to end the season on a positive note and we did today," Tulane assistant coach Chris Neal said. "We finished top ten in the region, which is what we hoped for. It was great for us to come back from a rough meet at the C-USA Championship. The top three Wave runners placed very closely to each other as Phillips led the team with a time of 22:04.2 and 30th placing. Freshman Dalrymple placed 34th with a time of 22:12.3 and senior Langley placed 35th with a time of 22:13.0. Junior Cecelia Clarke placed 70th and junior Rachel Bryan placed 72nd completing the scorers for the Green Wave. Senior Jill Shriver (74th) and freshman Rebecca Coady (75th) ran sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Wave. Rice won the meet, finishing 16 points better than Arkansas. Silje Fjortoft of SMU was the top overall finisher in the meet. "C-USA fared well today, and it really shows what a tough conference it really is," Neal said. "I think we are all, and especially the girls, really looking forward to their week off and get on track for the Indoor season." The regional meet completes the 2007 cross country season for the Green Wave. The Indoor track and field season begins Saturday Dec. 1, as the Wave once travels to the state of Arkansas for the Arkansas State Invitational in Jonesboro. UAB Finish Fifth At South Regional Meet ... Ambrus qualifies for nationals with ninth place finish Battling back from an illness earlier this season, Ambrus took the Blazers top spot with a time of 20:58.75 and qualified for the NCAA Championship on Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind. "For her to be out three weeks and qualify for the national meet is one of the best stories of the year in collegiate cross country," head coach Ray Stanfield said. "To have no activity for three weeks and make the championship is outstanding. She absolutely willed herself into the national championship." Stanfield was pleased with the team's performance and finishing ahead of instate schools Auburn and Samford as well as several Southeastern Conference schools. It was the second-highest finish at a regional meet in UAB history. Seniors Elizabeth Hilligoss and Whitney Mays finished in 41st and 42nd place with times of 22:24.08 and 22:24.63 respectively. Freshman Stephanie Gammon placed 45th with a time of 22:27.78. Behind Gammon in 56th place was sophomore Kristina Olsen (22:49.30) and freshman Lacey Wright (24:04.90) who finished in 94th place. "I thought we raced what we were capable of running," he said. "We almost snuck up on Tennessee to take fourth place but as a team I think we beat who we were supposed to beat. I thought Elizabeth Hilligoss had the best race of her season and Stephanie Gammon had a great race for a freshman." No. 3-ranked Florida State won the team title with 40 points and automatically qualified for the national meet along with second-place finisher No. 29 Georgia. Susan Kuijken from Florida State won the individual title with a time of 20:19.01. To qualify for the national meet as an individual, a runner must finish as one of the top seven runners not on one of the automatically- qualified teams. Ambrus earned the fourth overall individual qualifying spot and will be making her second trip to the national meet, and her first since 2005. NCAA SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS UAB INDIVIDUAL RESULTS NCAA MIDWEST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS TULSA INDIVIDUAL RESULTS NCAA SOUTHEAST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS EAST CAROLINA INDIVIDUAL RESULTS |
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