Nov. 24, 2008
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Baylor women's cross country team placed 19th overall at the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships held Monday afternoon at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
Erin Bedell led the way for the Lady Bears with a 37th-place finish, earning her first-ever cross country All-America honor. She becomes just the fifth athlete to earn All-America honors in cross country. Bedell joins Natalie Nalepa (1990, 1991), Sherri Smith (1998), Karin Ernstrom (1999) and Lauren Hagans (2007) as cross country All-Americans.
"I am so proud of Erin and the way she raced today," said head coach Todd Harbour. "She has been a little sick all week, but she really battled today and I am excited for her that she was an All-American. It is pretty amazing to think how far she has come in the past year and a half after redshirting last season. This was a great accomplishment for her."
Washington won the team title with 79 team points, while Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego made NCAA history, becoming the first female athlete to win three-straight NCAA cross country individual titles. Baylor earned 484 team points and finished as the second overall Big 12 team behind Texas Tech (272). The Lady Bears were also the second overall team from the South Central Region as Arkansas placed 15th with 404 team points.
"We had an outstanding year, but today we were just a little bit off," said Harbour. "We wanted to finish higher and we were a little bit disappointed at where we finished. We ran a pretty strong race, but when you are at the NCAA Championships, every little thing is magnified and we made a couple of mistakes. But overall, we had a great year and a Top 20 finish at NCAAs is pretty good."
Baylor makes its eighth Top 20 finish at the NCAA Championship in 13 total appearances. Baylor's highest finish at the NCAA Championships came in 1998 when the Lady Bears placed eighth overall.
Bedell clocked a time of 20:40 to finish 37th overall. Nichole Jones finished 83rd with a time of 21:04, while Danielle Bradley took 113th in 21:17. Renae Van Wyhe placed 175th and Jessi Barnes took 195th to round out the Baylor top five.
Baylor opens the indoor track season on Jan. 17 with the Wes Kittley Invitational in Lubbock, Texas.
