Rice Women Qualify for NCAA Cross Country Championships
11/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 14, 2005
Houston -
Rice's women's cross country team will return to the NCAA championships for the first time since 1993 after earning an at-large bid Sunday following the team's third-place finish at the south central regional on Saturday. The meet is scheduled for Nov. 21 on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind.
Thirty-one teams were selected to compete in the NCAA meet, with the top two teams from each of nine regional meets gaining automatic bids. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large. Arkansas and Baylor finished ahead of Rice at the south central meet to gain automatic berths.
"This is a huge accomplishment for this team," said head coach Jim Bevan, who guided the Owls to previous national team berths in 1987 and 1993. "They ran so well at the conference meet to win, and then followed up with this third-place performance. This team definitely deserves to be at the national championships."
Marissa Daniels qualified for the NCAA meet as an individual last year as a freshman, and was third at the regional meet to pace the Owls. Teammate Kate Gorry, the Conference USA runner-up, was sixth Saturday and will also be making her second trip to nationals after qualifying as an individual in 2003.
Rice is ranked 27th in the latest FinishLynx NCAA Division I poll. The Owls, winners of Conference USA on Oct. 29, are the only league team to advance to the national meet. UAB's Elizabeth Ambrus, the C-USA individual champion, and SMU's Rachel Forish were the only other conference runners to qualify.
Players Mentioned
