Nov. 16, 2002
WACO, Texas - The Baylor cross country teams hosted the 2002 NCAA South Central Cross Country Regional on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course. The Arkansas men took their 14-consecutive title, edging out SMU 47-49. In the women's race, the Arkansas placed seven runners in the top 15 to win the race with 29 points. Texas came in second with 74 points. All four teams earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 25 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Individually, Arkansas' Alistair Cragg took the men's, running the 10,000-meter course in 29:45. SMU's Mindaugas Pukstas came in second (29:54). Westly Keating (3rd; 29:58) of Texas-Pan American, Brent Corbitt (9th, 30:38) of Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas' Kevin Barra (10th; 30:43) and Ben Dawson (11th; 30:47) earned individual bids to the national title race.
Karin van Rooyen of SMU paced the women's race with a time of 20:22 on the 6,000-meter course. She earned a trip to the NCAA Championships as an individual. Her teammate, Emily Field (5th; 20:40) will join here as an individual. Texas A&M also had two individual qualifiers in Melissa Gulli (8th; 20:50) and Meredith Crane (9th; 20:52).
The Baylor squads had strong races, but neither could catch an automatic NCAA bid. Senior Debbie Thornhill paced the women with a 10th-place finish in a time of 20:55. Freshman Angela Marvin took 14th in a time of 21:18. Jessa Vacek (21st; 21:49) and Leah Marbach (22nd; 21:50) each had strong races. Megan McCoin rounded out the scoring for Baylor, finishing 41st with a time of 22:30. Overall the women finished fourth with 97 points.
The men's squad closed out the season with a fifth-place regional finish. The Bears were paced by Kyle King, who took 17th place with a time of 31:14. Matt Chance finished the race in 31:25 to take 22nd. Several Bears had exceptional races as Sam Bernal (24th; 31:32), Cody Wells (34th; 31:57) and Rob Marrow (35th; 31:59) all scored for Baylor. Freshman Bo Price narrowly missed a scoring place, taking 36th with a time of 32:00.
