Women’s cross earns at-large national bid
The women’s cross country team followed up their impressive Conference USA Championship victory by taking third place last Saturday at the South-Central Regional Championships in Waco, Tex. and earning their first NCAA Tournament bid in over ten years.
First place Arkansas scored 45 points, and runner-up Baylor scored 46 to take the two automatic NCAA Tournament bids from regional competition, but Rice’s season performance and strong weekend showing earned them one of thirteen at-large invitations to the meet.
The team will now travel to Terra Haute, Ind. for Monday’s meet, where they will again face Arkansas and Baylor, as well as the University of Texas, Florida State University, and Oklahoma State University.
“It’s a big achievement to make it to the national meet, ” head coach Jim Bevan said. “We have a chance to make it to the top-20 if we put it together in every position.”
Rice’s third-place, 78 point finish came on the strides of sophomore Marissa Daniels and senior Kate Gorry, who finished in third and sixth place, respectively.
“We knew at the bare minimum we had to finish third [as a team], ” Bevan said. “We were trying to mix it up with Arkansas and Baylor and at the front end we really did. Marissa and Kate both had their best races of the year, and I think that’s a sign of better things to come.”
The championships are nothing new to Daniels and Gorry, both of whom have competed in one NCAA Tournament. Daniels finished 53rd in last year’s nationals, becoming the only Rice freshman to ever qualify for a national meet. Gorry competed at nationals two years ago, and took seventh in a pre-national event last year.
“The national meet is twice as intense as pre-nationals, and [Daniels and Gorry] both ran very well [in their respective appearances],” Bevan said. “It’s a good sign that they respond [excellently] to those conditions.”
The Owls’ pre-national qualifying took place at the very course they will run on Monday. At that meet they finished ninth, ahead of top-30 teams Butler Unviersity, the University of Georgia, Villanova University, the University of Wisconsin, and Georgetown University - all of whom are competing at the NCAA Championships.
Beven stressed the advantage of running on a familiar course, especially one with upbeat memories like Terra Haute.
“I think there will be a lot of positive vibes exerting themselves there,” Bevan said. “It’s a good place for us to run, [because] we had that great meet.”
In Waco last week, senior Sarah Yoder finished 25th, freshman Lea Garcia took 28th, sophomore Laura Kelley ended 37th, and senior Anna Reeve completed the race in 44th place.
“As a team, we ran very well, ” Bevan said. “We did what we had to do [at regionals], and now we [can look back] at the whole season. We’ve had a great season — we’ve beat a number of great schools, [and] I think we’re still getting better.”
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