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Final Cross Country Notes.pdf
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2002 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP - There was only one school from the WAC that qualified as a team, but there were four individuals that headed to Indiana for the NCAA Championships. On the men's side, WAC Champion SMU, finished second in the South Central Region, earning a team bid to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. The Mustangs finished 21st in Indiana, led by Mindi Pukstas, who finished 15th. Pukstats' top-20 finish, was the best finish for a WAC member since Jeff Simonichof Utah finished eighth in 1998. Individually, the WAC had four runners in action. Bashir Ibrahim of UTEP was the only male. Ibrahim finished 87th at the NCAA meer. For the women, Karin van Rooyen and Emily Field of SMU finished 15th and 55th, respectively, while Victoria Chang of Hawai`i was 177th. van Rooyen's 14th-place finish is one better than Anita Looper of UTEP's finish in 2000.
Stanford won the men's title, defeating runner-up Wisconsin, 47-107. For the women, BYU repeated as team champions, outdistancing Stanford, 85-113. Individually, North Carolina's Shalane Flanagan and Colorado's Jorge Torres brought home gold at the Championships.
NCAA Top FinishersMen
Team Pts
1. Stanford 47
2. Wisconsin 107
3. E. Michigan 165
4. Colorado 190
5. Oregon 210
Individual Time
1. Jorge Torres, Colorado 29:04.7
2. Alistair Cragg, Ark. 29:06.0
3. Grant Robinson, Stanford 29:36.7
4. Mark Tucker, Butler 29:37.5
5. Louis Luchini, Stanford 29:41.0
Women
Team Pts
1. BYU 85
2. Stanford 113
3. Notre Dame 170
4. Georgetown 214
5. Colorado 220
Individual Time
1. Shalane Flanagan, UNC 19:36.0
2. Kate O'Neill, Yale 19:45.9
3. Alicia Craig, Stanford 19:48.0
4. Lauren Fleshman, Stanford 19:48.3
5. Michaela Manova, BYU 19:49.5
TWO MUSTANGS NAMES ALL-AMERICAS - SMU Cross Country standouts Mindi Pukstas and Karin van Rooyen have been tabbed 2002 All-Americans based on their outstanding efforts at the NCAA Championships.
On the men's side, Pukstas finished 15th in a time of 30:15.5 for the 10K course, and on the women's side, van Rooyen finished in 14th place in the 6K race with a time of 20:07.4. The top 16 finishers in each race earn All-America status.
Pukstas' honor marked the first men's cross country award for SMU since Tim Gargiulo's in 1987, while van Rooyen became the first Mustang women's cross country All-America since Katie Swords in 1995.
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 WAC Freshman of the Year Soeren Linder and Sebastian Hock, who placed 16th and 19th, respectively.
SMU's 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.
SMU FINISHES IN MONDO MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TOP 25 - The SMU men's team, coming off a WAC Championship and a second-place finish at the South Central Regional, finish the season in the top 25. The Mustangs had been receivng votes all season, but cracked the top 25 in the final poll of the season.
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.