Nov. 22, 2008
WACO, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The Baylor women's cross country team returns to action on Monday as the Lady Bears travel to the 2008 NCAA Championships on Monday, Nov. 24, at LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. The women will compete in a 6,000-meter race at 11:08 a.m.
The Lady Bears are making their six-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships, the longest championship streak in program history. The six-straight NCAA Championship appearances is the sixth-longest active streak in the nation, trailing Providence (19), Stanford (16), Arizona State (10), Michigan State (9) and Michigan (7).
"We are honored again to be selected to the NCAA Championships," said head coach Todd Harbour. "We are making our sixth-straight trip to NCs and our 13th overall which is quite an accomplishment."
Baylor earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships after failing to secure one of the automatic berths at the regional meet for the second straight year. Baylor tied Rice with 61 team points, but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Owls by a 3-2 score.
Baylor is one of four teams from the South Central Region to be competing in the championship meet. Arkansas and Rice earned automatic spot in the championships with their top finishes at the region meet. Baylor and SMU each received an at-large berth into the NCAA Championships.
Erin Bedell and Nichole Jones lead the way for Baylor, leading the Lady Bears as the top finishers in each meet this season. Both athletes were named Big 12 Runner of the Week during the 2008 season. Jones won the season-opening Baylor Twilight Invitational, and Bedell has claimed the team's best finish in each meet since. Both athletes earned All-Big 12 honors three weeks ago at the conference meet by recording Top 10 finishes, and earned All-South Central Regional honors last weekend in Waco, Texas. Bedell claimed second place, the second-straight year that Baylor has claimed the individual runner-up position.
The Baylor women enter the meet ranked 18th in the USTFCCCA Division I Women's Cross Country Poll. The Lady Bears have been ranked as high as 14th nationally this season.
Last season Baylor finished 17th overall at the NCAA Championships after receiving an at-large berth into the championships. Lauren Hagans earned All-America honors, just the fifth time in Baylor history that a Baylor runner has earned All-America honors.
"We can't take it for granted when we get selected to the NCAA Championships," said Harbour. "There are a lot of teams that are normally there that didn't receive at-large berths. We enjoyed not having all the drama that we did last year when we were one of the last teams selected. Hopefully we saved our legs this weekend and will have a good showing next week."
Indiana State University will host the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, November 24, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, Terre Haute, Indiana. The women's race will begin at 12:08 p.m. Eastern time followed by the men's race at 12:48 p.m. Both championship races will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports.
