Rice University
Conference USA Championship
Owls Second At C-USA Cross Country Championship
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 1, 2008
Complete Results in PDF Format 
The Rice Owls women's cross country team tallied 50 points to place second at the 2008 Conference USA Cross Country Championship held in Memphis, Tenn. SMU won the team title with 40 points. It marks the second time in three years that the Owls have placed second after winning the C-USA team title in 2005 and in 2007.
"I thought that we ran a really good race today," commented Rice head coach Jim Bevan. "We were beat by a better team today. I give SMU a lot of credit because they were able to put it together when they had to."
All seven SMU runners earned all-conference accolades as Silje Fjortoft and senior Rachel Forish picked up first team merits. Fjortof was first with a course record time of 16:46. Forish finished sixth with a time of 17:24, while Monika Korra (17:39), Claire Hardwick (17:41) and Jessa Simmons (17:42) earned second team honors with 10-12th place times, respectively. Sierra Anderson (18:15) and Ilyssa Pettigrew (18:18) were honored with third-time merits after placing 17th and 20th overall.
20th-ranked Rice scored 50 points after Nicole Mericle (17:08), Lennie Waite (17:18) and Allison Pye(17:21) cross consecutively in third, fourth, and fifth finishes.
Tulsa racked up 77 points for third-place honors while Alex Becker won the Outstanding Senior Award with a second-place time of 17:03. Outstanding Freshman of the Year accolades went to Houston's Stephanie Aldea who was the top finishing rookie with a time of 17:38.
UAB repeated its fourth place showings from a year ago with 116 points, followed by Houston (145), East Carolina (117), UTEP (182), and UCF (198), Tulane (209), Marshall (270), Southern Miss (344) and Memphis (357) rounded out the bottom four.
50 Rice Results (17:35 1:27:55)
3 Nicole Mericle 17:08
4 Lennie Waite 17:18
5 Allison Pye 17:21
13 Britany Williams 17:43
25 Keltie John 18:25
(30) Marie Thompson 18:34
(36) Becky Wade 18:43
(38) Claire Shorall 18:51
(48) Michaela Reynolds 19:23
2008 C-USA WOMEN'S FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. SMU, 40
2. Rice, 50
3. Tulsa, 77
4. UAB 116
5. Houston , 145
6. East Carolina, 177
7. UTEP, 182
8. UCF, 198
9. Tulane, 209
10. Marshall, 270
11. Southern Miss, 344
12. Memphis, 357
2008 Women's Cross Country All-Conference Teams
First Team
1. Silje Fjortoft, SMU 16:46
2. Alex Becker, Tulsa 17:03
3. Nicole Mericle, Rice 17:08
4. Lennie Waite, Rice 17:18
5. Allison Pye, Rice 17:21
6. Rachael Forish, SMU 17:24
7. Happy Mary Bacia, UTEP 17:26
Second Team
8. Katie Wright, Tulsa 17:29
9. Stephanie Aldea, Houston 17:38
10. Monika Korra, SMU 17:39
11. Claire Hardwick, SMU 17:41
12. Jessa Simmons, SMU 17:42
13. Britany Williams, Rice 17:43
14. Brittany Copeland, East Carolina 17:45
Third Team
15. Stephanie Gammon, UAB 17:51
16. Sandra Lundberg, UAB 18:10
17. Sierra Anderson, SMU 18:15
18. Jepchirchir Kigen, UTEP 18:17
19. Dawn Nagazina, Tulsa 18:17
20. Ilyssa Pettigrew, SMU 18:18
21. Starla Garcia, Houston 18:19
Players Mentioned
