Nov. 10, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BAYLOR CROSS COUNTRY HOSTS 2005 NCAA REGIONAL
WACO, Texas - The Baylor cross country teams return to action this week as the Bears host the 2005 NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Cottonwood Creek Country Club. The men will open with a 10,000-meter race at 10:00 a.m. with the No. 20 Baylor women's team to follow with a 6,000-meter race at 11:15 a.m.
The top two teams on the men's and women's side of the NCAA South Central Regional will clinch automatic berths for the NCAA Cross Country Championships to be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 21.
"We are excited to be hosting the regional at Cottonwood Creek for the third consecutive year," head coach Todd Harbour said. "Hopefully, the women will have a strong showing and can qualify for their third consecutive national meet. I think we are as healthy as we can be at this time of the year and the teams are excited to face some strong competition."
On the women's side, Baylor will be led by all-conference selections Brittany Brockman, Erin Bedell and Lauren Hagans. The trio each claimed top 15 finishes at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships as they helped lead the Bears to a third-place finish, the second highest finish at the conference meet in school history.
At last year's NCAA South Central Regional, Brockman led the way for Baylor with a third-place finish as the Bears earned an at-large berth into the 2004 NCAA Cross Country Championships with a third-place finish at the meet.
Jacob Jones will lead a young men's squad into the regional as the sophomore has been the first Baylor runner to cross the finish line in each of the first five meets. At the Big 12 Cross Country Championships, Jones led the way for Baylor with a 68th-place finish.
Last season, the Baylor men finished seventh at the regional; however, each BU men's runner participating in this year's even will be making their first career regional appearance.
Admission to the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Regional is $5 for adults, students and children.
BAYLOR WOMEN LAND FOUR ON ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 TEAM
Four Baylor women's cross country runners garnered attention this week for their work in the classroom and on the course as Jessi Barnes, Lyndsy Bedell, Brittany Brockman and Brittany McGuire were named first-team Academic All-Big 12 Conference the league office announced on Tuesday.
The selections for Brockman, a junior majoring in business, and McGuire, a junior majoring in journalism, mark the second time they have been named academic all-conference. Barnes, a sophomore majoring in business, and Bedell, a sophomore majoring in business, each picked up their first academic all-conference selection.
To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of his/her team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
WOMEN'S TEAM NO. 20 IN LATEST NATIONAL POLL
The Baylor women's cross country team is ranked No. 20 in the latest FinishLynx NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country National Poll, down from the No. 14 ranking the Baylor women held heading into the Chile Pepper Festival.
Although the Bears dropped six spots in the rankings, the Baylor women's cross country team is coming off a strong showing at the Big 12 Championships, where the Bears finished third. The Bears were led by junior Brittany Brockman, who finished fourth overall.
Baylor's strong performances throughout the year gives the Bears a good shot at qualifying for their 10th appearance, and third consecutive, in the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Baylor defeated eight ranked teams at the Roy Griak Invitational; putting them in good shape for an at-large berth into the championships should the team fail to qualify automatically at the NCAA South Central Regional.
Baylor was one of four Big 12 schools ranked in the poll as the Bears trailed only Colorado and Oklahoma State in the national rankings among conference schools.
THREE BAYLOR RUNNERS EARN All-CONFERENCE HONORS
The Baylor women's cross country team placed three runners on the all-conference squad and raced to a third-place finish at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships.
Junior Brittany Brockman, freshman Erin Bedell and sophomore Lauren Hagans each finished in the top 15 to earn all-conference honors and lead the Baylor women to their second highest finish in school history.
"I was extremely pleased with the way the women came out and competed," head coach Todd Harbour said. "Our women's team had one of its best Big 12 performances ever and to have three of our women's runners earn all-conference honors is a tremendous accomplishment."
For the fifth time this season, Brockman led the way for Baylor as the junior finished fourth overall with a time of 20:42. Erin Bedell was the second Baylor runner to cross the night as the freshman finished second among Big 12 newcomers and eighth overall with a time of 21:08.
Hagans rounded out Baylor's all-conference performers as the sophomore raced to a 14th-place finish with a time of 21:25.
LAST SEASON AT THE NCAA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL
At the 2004 NCAA South Central Regional, the Baylor women's cross country team raced to a third place finish while the men's team finished seventh.
Brittany Brockman led the way for the Baylor women as the sophomore raced to a third-place finish as she automatically qualified to run as an individual at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Her time of 20:44 over the 6,000-meter course placed her behind only Mary Kinyanjui of TCU and Karin vonRooyen of SMU in the race for the individual title.
Monique Ortega and Jessa Chance also had strong runs for the Bears as Ortega finished 12th with a time of 21:08 while Chance raced to an 18th-place finish with a time of 21:25.
Lyndsy Bedell and Allisa McKaig rounded out the scoring for Baylor as Bedell finished 23rd with a time of 21:37 while McKaig finished 25th with a time of 21:41.
It was impressive performances by Baylor's top five runners as each were named to the NCAA All-South Central Regional team with the results.
Lauren Hagans and Brittany McGuire also ran for Baylor on the day as each turned in personal records over the 6,000-meter course. Hagans finished 26th with a time of 21:46 while McGuire finished 31st with a time of 21:55.
Led by Bo Price, the Baylor's men's team raced to a seventh-place finish. Price raced to a 12th-place finish in a time of 30:39 over the 10,000-meter course. His performance earned the junior all-region honors as he fell just one spot short of an individual berth into the NCAA championship.
Baylor earned three other top-40 finishes at the meet as Cody Wells, Jason Baker and Chris Vidrine each were among the first 40 to finish.
Wells finished in 37th with a time of 31:41 with Baker just behind in 38th with a time of 31:42. Vidrine finished in 40th with his time of 31:45 over the 10,000-meter course.
Joel Sartain rounded out the scoring for Baylor as he finished in 46th-place with his time of 32:08.
Arkansas finished in first on the men's side as Texas finished second to advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
NEXT TIME OUT
Should the men's or women's team finish first or second at the NCAA South Central Regional, Baylor would qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, to be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, November 21.
