Friday, November 21, 2003
Friday, November 21, 2003 |
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CCSU women finish 8th in NCAA regional The Clayton College & State University men’s and women’s cross country teams finished sixth and eighth, respectively, Saturday in the 2003 NCAA Division II South Regionals at the Panthersville course on the grounds of Georgia Regional Hospital. On the women’s side, sophomore Heather Krehbiel of Peachtree City led the way, placing 21st with a personal best time of 23:02 in the 6K event, the fourth fastest 6K in school history. Her time also broke the sophomore record set by Joni Guffey in 1999. Junior Kim Daniel of Macon placed 33rd with a time of 23:37, the eighth fastest all-time. Sophomore Melissa Shaw of Morrow finished 54th with a personal best time of 24:20, the 18th fastest time all-time, followed by Penny Tinker in 59th with a time of 24:50, the 21st fastest time in school history. Freshman Tanika Smith rounded out the scoring for Clayton State, placing 62nd with a personal best time of 24:55, the 25th fastest in school history. Junior Stephanie Gilbert of Jonesboro finished 79th with a time of 25:58, followed by junior Brittany Precht of Smyrna in the 95th spot with a personal best time of 27:26. The Lakers placed eighth for the second straight season in the region meet, but at the same time and a good indication of how the region has gotten stronger over the last couple of years, Saturday’s overall team time was the fastest in school history. The top five Lakers averaged a time of 24:08, besting the 2001 team time at the NCAA Regionals of 24:26 by 16 seconds per runner. North Florida won with a meet low 76 points, followed in a close second by the University of Tampa with 81 points. The University of Alabama-Huntsville finished third with 93 points, followed by Harding in fourth with 112 points and Kennesaw State rounding out the top five with 117 points. The four teams in the meet will advance to nationals. The men’s squad, entering the race ranked seventh in the NCAA South Regional poll, picked up one spot on the field, despite having its top runner, senior Tony Juarez, suffer an injury midway through the race. In fact, the Lakers were only three points from fifth place and 17 points out of fourth. Sophomore Njoroge Ngaruiya of Kenya had the top finish for the Lakers in the 10K event, placing 28th with a collegiate best time of 33:46. The time was the fifth best in Clayton State history. Suffering a shin injury and in obvious pain for more than half the race, Juarez was still able to gut out the second best finish for the Lakers, placing 29th with a time of 33:52, which ranked seventh all-time. Junior Adil Berkhedle placed 32nd in the race with a time of 34:00, the ninth fastest all-time, followed by junior Oscar Campos in the 39th spot with a personal best time of 34:25, the 13th fastest in Clayton State history. Senior Stephen Hughes of Hampton rounded out the scoring for Clayton State in 52nd with a personal best time of 35:03, followed by freshman Tim McCullough in 81st with a time of 36:40. Even with Juarez not up to full speed, the Lakers still were able to post the fastest overall 10K team time in school history. The top five times on the squad averaged 34:13, besting last year's team average in the South Region of 34:26 by 13 seconds per runner. Harding University, out of
the Gulf South Conference, won with a meet-low 19 points, followed by
Peach Belt Conference rival Kennesaw State University with 47 points.
Both Harding and Kennesaw State will advance to the NCAA Championships
in Raleigh, N.C. The State University of West Georgia placed third with
120 points, followed by the University of Tampa in fourth with 162 points
and the University of West Florida in fifth with 176 points.
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