Rice University
NCAA South Central Regional
Mericle Finish (Again!)
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 13, 2010
NCAA South Central Regional Results
Waco, Texas - Senior Nicole Mericle won the individual title and Britany Williams placed eighth to lead the Rice women's cross country team to a second place finish with 72 points at the NCAA South Central Regional held at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Club. By placing second, the Owls earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 22.
Texas won the team title with 43 points, while Arkansas finished a distant third with 99 points.
This is the fourth time since 2005, that head coach Jim Bevan has led the Rice Owls to the NCAA Championship.
"Our ladies ran, by far, their best race of the year when it counted the most and I am so very proud of each of them," said Bevan. "Nicole Mericle won for the second time, a feat that has only been accomplished a couple of times in the history of the region and Britany Williams ran her best cross country race of her life, running over 25 seconds faster over 6k than she has ever ran.
"Halsey Fowler continues to impress, running a build-up race and her fastest time by 20 seconds. Allison Pye had her fastest time of the year, going out hard, dropping a bit, and then finishing strong to be our fifth runner."
Mericle won this event for the second straight time by clocking in at 20:16.3. She did not compete in 2009, but captured the 2008 NCAA South Central title with a time of 20:34.7. Senior Britany Williams finished the 6k course with time of 20:48.1 and Halsey Fowler (14th) was the third Owl to finish doing so in 21:06.0.
Competing in her first event of the season, senior Becky Wade ran a remarkable race to place 20th (21:14.5). Wade had missed the whole season recuperating from an injury, but was given the go-ahead signal to compete on Saturday after undergoing rehabilitation all fall.
"When I told the team on Tuesday that Becky was going to run, everyone was excited," said Bevan. "You just can not put a price of what that meant to the squad. A thousand pats on the back for how hard she has worked in rehab and the spirit she brings to this team. It was the performance of performances.
"She went out conservatively with Meredith (Gamble) and passed over 50 people after the mile, moving up throughout the race."
Placing 30th was senior Allison Pye with time of 21:26.1 and freshman Meredith Gamble placed 46th 21:43.3 in her first NCAA South Central Regional event.
Rice finished third at the NCAA South Central Regional in 2005, won the event in 2007, and placed second in 2008. There were 125 runners representing 18 teams at the 2010 NCAA South Central Regional.
Rice Results
1 Nicole Mericle 20:16.3
8 Britany Williams 20:48.1
14 Halsey Fowler 21:06.0
20 Becky Wade 21:14.5
30 Allison Pye 21:26.1
46 Meredith Gamble 21:43.3
59 Marie Thompson 22:06.7
Team Results
Place Points Team
1 43 Texas
2 72 Rice
3 99 Arkansas
4 105 Baylor
5 140 Texas A&M
6 150 Stephen F. Austin
7 216 SMU
8 243 Texas A&M-CC
9 313 Lamar
10 327 Houston
11 348 McNeese State
12 354 Arkansas State
13 357 Texas Christian
14 357 Nicholls State
15 361 UTSA
16 378 LSU
17 387 Texas-Pan American
18 422 Texas State
Players Mentioned
