NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship Website
The University of Dayton women’s cross country program travels to Madison, Wis. for the 2012 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship on Friday Nov. 9 hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The race takes place on the Thomas Zimmer Championships Cross Country Course. The women’s 6k race shoots off at 12 p.m.
The top two qualifying teams from each regional automatically advance to the NCAA Championship Meet with 13 at large teams selected to also participate. The top four individuals from the meet not on a qualifying team also receive invitations to participate in the NCAA Championships.
Dayton placed sixth at the Atlantic 10 Championships two weekends ago. UD had 154 points, finishing ahead of regionally ranked Duquesne (No. 9 Mid-Atlantic), Saint Joseph’s (No. 14 Mid-Atlantic), and George Washington (No. 15 Mid-Atlantic).
“We beat a lot of regionally-ranked teams,” said UD Head Coach Sarah Haveman. “We will be excited to compete against quality teams.”
They were led by All-Conference performer Lizzie Gleason. Gleason finished seventh in a time of 17:59.7. Nicole Cargill was the second Flyer across in 17th place with a time of 18:25. The final three scorers were Marisa Slomski (18:55) in 37th, Sarah Reynolds (18:59) in 44th and Olivia Albers (19:03) in 49th.
“Last week we competed for the first time as a full team,” said Haveman. “I liked how we really came together as a team.”
The women’s squad had arguably their best NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship in school history last year placing ninth tying a school record. Dayton was led by senior stand out, Elissa Mason, who placed 21st in a time of 21:09.
“I am expecting us to run well,” said Haveman. “I am definitely going to expect some great individual performances.”
UD will rely heavily on two of their scorers from last year. Junior Lizzie Gleason paced the team for much of the season and looks to improve on her 57th place (21:56) from last year. Junior Nicole Cargill also looks to better her 85th place (22:20) finish in the 2011 NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
Written by Dan Eisier, Athletics Communication Student, Class of 2013
