Nov. 16, 2007
WACO, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The Baylor women's cross country team is set to compete at the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday, November 19 in Terre Haute, Ind. The Lady Bears, making their fifth-consecutive NCAA Championships appearance, earned an at-large berth following their third-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional last weekend.
"I think that we are ready to run," said head coach Todd Harbour. "It's not easy to make it to nationals; there are some good teams that didn't make it this year. We are not going to take this opportunity for granted."
Last season at the championships Baylor finished 29th in its fourth-straight NCAA meet. In 2005, the Bears placed 15th overall, their highest finish since an eighth-place showing in 1998. In 2006, Nichole Jones led the way for the Bears, finishing 82nd overall with a time of 21:57.1.
"Our goal is to run our best race of the year," said Harbour. "We came close at regionals, but we don't feel that was our best. We have some seniors that have run this course a lot of times, and I think that Erin Bedell has run this course seven times. We want to be sure that we end the season on a good note."
The Bears are coming off a third-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional last week, as all five runners that scored for Baylor earned all-region honors. Jones was the top runner for Baylor as she finished as runner-up at the meet to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships. Lauren Hagans placed seventh overall, while Jessi Barnes took 20th. Danielle Bradley finished 21st and Renae Van Wyhe placed 25th to finish the scoring for Baylor.
"We like the feeling that we got after regionals," said Harbour. "We did just enough to get an at-large berth and we are hoping to take that momentum and use it on Monday."
Baylor's highest finish of eighth overall came at the 1998 NCAA Championships, while Natalie Nalepa claimed the highest individual finish, placing fifth in 1991. The Bears are ranked 30th nationally according to the USTFCCCA Division I Cross Country Poll following their performance last weekend at the regional meet.
The NCAA, USTFCCCA and CSTV have partnered together to provide the first ever live telecast of the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. The live telecast will run from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (11 -12:30 CST) and will also be webcast live by CSTV. The live webcast will be available on www.ustfccca.org.
