Rice University
NCAA South Central Regional
Roper Earns Second Straight Trip to NCAA Championships
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
South Central Regional Results 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Rice junior Cali Roper earned her second consecutive NCAA Championship berth with a third place finish at Friday's NCAA South Central Regional Championship at the Dale Watts XC Course hosted by Texas A&M.
Roper, from Willis, Texas, set a personal record with a 6k time of 19:53.9, finishing behind only champion Dominique Scott of Arkansas (19:35.3) and Maggie Montoya of Baylor (19:50.5).
Roper qualified for the NCAA's by being one of the four finishers not associated with either of the top two qualifying teams. Roper became the first Owl to qualify for the NCAA Championships individually in consecutive seasons since Pam Klassen (1985-86). She will compete at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 21 in Louisville, Ky. at Tom Sawyer State park, set to begin at 11 a.m. (CT).
Also earning NCAA All-Regional honors for placing in the top 25 was sophomore Elsa Racasan. The Lugrin, France native placed 25th with a time of 20:41.3 (5:32 pace).
Other Owl competitors were Katie Jensen (34th-21:01.2), Abigail Cartwright (36th-21:06.5), Fabiola Andujar-Perez (48th-21:32.1), Hannah Kay (70th-22:04.9) and Ellen Diemert (72nd-22:08.1).
As a team the Owls placed fifth overall (145 points) for a second straight season. Arkansas won the team title (40 points), followed by Texas (105 points), SMU (132 points) and Baylor (134 points). Rice finished just 40 points back of the Longhorns, which is the second qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships.
"Overall, our kids competed very well today," Rice women's cross country head coach Jim Bevan said. "Cali performed extremely well and just got outkicked at the end. She actually ran 54 seconds faster than the last time we were here in September. Elsa ran the fastest 6k of her career and she and Katie really pushed hard to qualify for the NCAA's. Abigail and Fabiola each had the best races of their respective careers and Hannah had a very strong meet. We competed well as a team, gave it a good shot and were involved to the end. We got a taste of what it takes here and we'll work hard towards next year with all seven runners returning."
-RiceOwls.com-
Players Mentioned
