Women's Cross Country Heads to NCAA Regional
Nov 13, 2009 | Cross Country
Nov. 13, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane Women's cross country team will take on the field of 25 at the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday in Waco, Texas. The Green Wave, which placed 10th at the Conference USA Championship two weeks ago, will hear the starting gun at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course at 10 a.m.
"We have five women competing so obviously we're looking for all five of them to come up with a good performance," Tulane director of cross country Eric Peterson said.
The Green Wave will field a five-person squad for the NCAA Regionals, led by sophomore Julia Whitrock, who earned Third Team All-Conference USA honors.
Whitrock posted a season-best time of 19:07 in her second competition of the season at the C-USA Championship on Oct. 31, placing 20th. Joining her is junior Rebecca Coady, sophomores Annette Glaz and Johanna Gretschel, and freshman Maggie Gentry. Glaz posted a personal best time of 20:25, placing 53rd at C-USA. The mark topped her previous best this season by over three minutes.
Gretschel was Tulane's third runner over the line at the Conference USA championship. She posted a time of 20:48 to place 62nd.
Gentry finished less than one second behind Gretschel in 63rd at the C-USA championship, while Coady posted a mark of 22:43 for 84th.
"It's the post season now, and they have been working hard and put themselves in a position to finish season with a good race," Peterson continued. "We are going into this meet with an optimistic feeling: that everyone is going to put in a good effort, run strong and hopefully the end result of that is the best performance as a team that we've put together all season."
Joining Tulane in the South Region field are Arkansas, Arkansas State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Baylor, Houston, Lamar Louisiana-Lafayette, LSU, McNeese State, Nicholls State, North Texas, Rice, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Texas, Texas-Pan American and Texas-San Antonio.
The top two teams from each of the nine NCAA Regionals, along with 13 at-large teams, earn bids to the NCAA Championships. Individually, the top four runners not on a qualifying team can earn a bid as well.
Players Mentioned
