Nov. 15, 2008
Women's Results | Men's Results
WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's cross country team tied for second overall and the men's squad took tenth at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional held Saturday morning at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course.
The Lady Bears tied with Rice for second place with 61 total team points, but the Lady Owls won the tiebreaker to earn the second automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 24.
"There were some tough conditions to race in today," said head coach Todd Harbour. "The wind was brutal, especially coming up to the finish line. Overall I thought we had good performances though. This is a tough region, and I am proud of the way we ran today."
Arkansas won the regional title, placing all five runners in the Top 20 to finish with 51 team points. Rice's Nicole Mericle won the women's overall title.
Baylor's Erin Bedell finished as the regional runner-up, just six seconds behind Mericle. Bedell's finish ties Nichole Jones' runner-up performance in last season's regional meet in Fayetteville, Ark. Brittany Brockman won the South Central Regional title during the 2005 season.
Jones finished fifth, while Danielle Bradley overtook an Arkansas runner near the finish line to place sixth overall. Jessi Barnes finished 21st overall for the Lady Bears. The top 25 runners each earn All-South Central Region honors.
Jodi Hulett, who qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual running for UT Arlington two years ago on the same course, rounded out Baylor's top five finishers in 27th place overall, just missing all-region honors.
"We had some great performances from Erin, Nichole and Danielle," said Harbour. "Jessi ran a really solid race and Jodi did a great job to get in the top five. All of our runners have been in the top five at some point this season, so that is a good situation to have heading to the NCAA Championships."
Texas A&M claimed the men's team total with 39 team points, while Aggie newcomer Shadrack Songok won the individual title. The Baylor men's team finished 10th overall with 288 team points.
Jeff Sadler led the way for the men's team, finishing 58th overall. Sadler was Baylor top finisher in four of its five meets this season, finishing out of the top five at the Big 12 Championships after suffering a leg injury.
Brandon White finished 60th overall, while Michael Williams held off a strong charge from a Lamar runner to take 65th overall. Brandon Reed and Ben Haby took 67th and 68th, respectively, to finish the scoring for the Bears.
"Jeff ran a good, tough race, especially after being injured the past couple of weeks," said Harbour. I thought our guys packed up and ran well. They did a good job overall. We are still really young and will improve more for next season."
Baylor now awaits a potential at-large berth in the NCAA Championships. At-large participants are scheduled to be announced later this week by the NCAA championship committee.
