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Related Material
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Weekly Cross Country Notes.pdf
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INDIANA STATE TO HOST 2002 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP - Indiana State University will host the 2002 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, November 25, at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center Lavern Gibson Championship Course, in Terre Haute, Ind. The women's race will begin at noon followed by the men's race at 1:15 p.m.
SMU MEN TAKE SECOND AT SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL - The SMU men finished second to second-ranked Arkansas by just two points and narrowly missed out on ending the Razorbacks' streak of 14 straight regional titles. The second-place finish tied for SMU's best-ever finish at the regional meet and comes on the heels of its 2002 WAC title. SMU also took second at the regional in 1976 and 1995.
Mindi Pukstas led the way for the Mustangs, finishing second, tying Chris Ellenby in 1976 and Tim Gargulio in 1989 for the best regional finish in school history. Dalibor Balgac took fifth while Graham Davidson also claimed a top-10 finish, coming in eighth. Other scoring runners for the Mustangs were 2002 Freshman of the Year Soeren Linder and Sebastian Hock, who placed 16th and 19th, respectively.
SMUs VAN ROOYEN TAKES SOUTH CENTRAL TITLE - Sophomore Karin van Rooyen of SMU claimed the regional crown in 20:22, marking the first time a SMU runner, either male or female, has won the race. She finished second a year ago as a freshman. Dallas native Emily Field took fifth in 20:40 and qualified for her first NCAA Championship berth.
NCAA BOUND - There is only one school from the WAC that qualified as a team, but there are a possible five individuals that may head to Indiana for the NCAA Championships. On the mens side, WAC Champion SMU, finished second in the South Central Region, earning a team bid to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. UTEPs Bashir Ibrahim finished seventh in the Mountain Region, earing him a trip to the NCAAs. Fellow Miner Dirk de Heer is eligble for an at large bid, and will find out on Wednesday, Nomember 20. For the women, WAC Champion Karin van Rooyen of SMU won the South Central Regional title. Teammate Emily Field finished fifth in Waco, earning her a bid as well. Hawaiis Victoria Chang was 12th in Stanford at the West Regional, qualifying her for the NCAAs.
SMU LANDS IN MONDO MENS CROSS COUTNRY TOP 25 -The SMU mens team, coming off a WAC Championship and a second-place finish at the South Central Regional, have landed in the top 25. The Mustangs had been receivng votes all season, but cracked the top 25 in the final poll of the season.
QUALIFYING FOR THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP - In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals must qualify in their respective NCAA regions.
Thirty-one teams are selected to participate in each championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large.
Thirty-eight individuals, the first four from each region and two additional qualifiers, are selected to participate in each championship. All individual qualifiers must finish in the top 25 in their region.
2002 WAC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP - The SMU men and the Rice women both take home their second WAC Cross Country crowns as they earn 30 and 68 points, respectively, winning the 2002 WAC Championship. UTEP's Bashir Ibrahim won his second individual title in as many years, while SMU's Karin van Rooyen won her first WAC title. Host SMU held this season's championship at Norbuck Park in Dallas.
On the men's side, SMU's 30 points were 33 better than second place UTEP. Tulsa finished third with 71 points, while Boise State was fourth with 85. In fifth was Fresno State with 110, then Rice with 150. Louisiana Tech (190) was seventh, with San Jose State rounding out the men's field with 222.
Individually for the men, Bashir Ibrahim of UTEP won his second WAC crown with a time of 24:24 in the 8k championship. Behind him was SMU's Mindi Pukstas (24:29). Andy Norman of Tulsa earned a bronze with a time of 24:56. In fourth was Dalibor Balgac of SMU (25:00), while fifth was occupied by Dirk de Heer of UTEP (25:02).
For the women, Rice earned its second WAC crown with a total of 68 points. In second was Tulsa (85) followed by Nevada (87). UTEP earned a fourth-place finish with 93 points, while SMU's 95 was good for fifth. Boise State edged Hawai'i by one point with 157 to finish sixth. Fresno State (165), San Jose State (226) and Louisiana Tech (315) rounded out the field.
SMU's Karin van Rooyen followed up a third-place finish in 2001 with a gold-medal in the 2002 championship, with a time of 17:01 in the 5k championship. Fellow Mustang Emily Field crossed at 17:20 to finish second. Grabbing the bronze medal was Hawai'i's Victoria Chang (17:42). In fourth was UTEP's Corine van Beek (17:56), while Nevada's Emma Garrard rounded out the top five with a time 18:02.