Owls Ready for South Central Regional
11/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 13, 2014
HOUSTON, Texas - After a two week hiatus following the C-USA Championships, both the Rice men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Fayetteville, AR on Friday.
The women's 6K championship race will begin at 12 p.m., followed by the men's 10K race at 1 p.m. Both races at Agri Park will feature 25 teams and open (free) to the public.
The top two teams from each race will advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Terre Haute, IN on Saturday, Nov. 22. The NCAA will also select 13 at-large teams from both the men and the women.
To advance individually, the top four racers from each of the nine regions will head to Terre Haute, along with four additional runners from all of the regionals based on their respective performances.
The Owls' women's cross country squad, who placed second at the C-USA Championships, will be led by sophomore and C-USA individual champion Cali Roper. The Willis, Texas native became the first Owl to win an individual C-USA title with a time of 16:43 in the 5K race in Denton. She was also just the second Owl to ever win a conference title overall.
Sophomore Katie Jensen and freshman Madi McLellan will also be competing after earning first-team all-conference honors with finishes of fifth and sixth, respectively. Freshman Elsa Racasan, sophomore Eleanor Wardleworth and freshman Ellen Diemert will also be running for the Owls. Others on the traveling roster will be freshman Abigail Cartwright, sophomore Hannay Kay, senior Alie Schaich, freshman Kristin Sweeney and juniors Audrey and Christina Wassef.
The women enter Friday ranked No. 4 in the latest USTFCCCA South Central Regional rankings. Competition will be fierce, which will include nationally ranked Arkansas (No. 4) and Baylor (No. 21). Also set to compete are regionally ranked Lamar (No. 3), SMU (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 6), Texas (No. 7), North Texas (No. 8), UT-Arlington (No. 9), Arkansas St. (No. 10), UALR (No. 11), Stephen F. Austin (No. 12), Central Arkansas (No. 13), TCU (No. 14) and UTSA (No. 15). Other competitors include Houston, Houston Baptist, LSU, McNeese St., Sam Houston St., Southeastern Louisiana, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, UTPA, Tulane and Louisiana-Lafayette.
On the men's side the Owls will be led by redshirt junior Will Firth, who placed sixth at the C-USA Championships with a mark of 24:29 in the 8K race. Also earning all-conference honors were sophomore Adam Davidson (second team) and freshmen Steve Booker (third team) and Bradley Dohner (third team). Other set to compete for the men are freshman Marco Ruiz, junior Meron Fessahaie and junior Aneesh Sampath.
The men enter Friday ranked No. 6 in the latest USTFCCCA South Central Regional rankings. Arkansas (T-24) is the lone competitor ranked in the Top 25 but the rest of the field is strongly balanced. The Owls will go up against regionally ranked Texas (No. 2), Lamar (No. 3), North Texas (No. 4), Texas A&M (No. 5), UT-Arlington (No. 7), Stephen F. Austin (No. 8), McNeese St. (No. 9), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (No. 10), Baylor (No. 11), Houston (No. 12), Louisiana-Lafayette (No. 13), Central Arkansas (No. 14) and Sam Houston St. (No. 15). Other competitors will include Arkansas St., UALR, Houston Baptist, LSU, Prairie View, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas St., UTPA, Tulane and UTSA.
-RiceOwls.com-
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
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