GREENVILLE, N.C. ? The University of Kentucky?s women?s cross country team ran a very determined race against four top-25 ranked teams to finish eighth at the Southeast Regional. The women were led by junior Allison Grace who finished tenth, earning All-Region honors.
Improving over 30 seconds from her 6k SEC Championship race time, Grace is in the running for an individual qualifying position scheduled to be announced tomorrow afternoon. Grace has finished in the top-30 in every Southeast Regional appearance of her career.
?Ali got to the front from the beginning and stayed up there throughout the race,? UK head coach Don Weber said. ?It was an outstanding race for her. She ran a very determined race and we hope that it will pay off with an NCAA individual qualifying spot.?
Grace is no stranger to leading the pack, as she has led the Cats all season. She earned All-SEC honors two weeks ago in Fayetteville with a seventh-place finish and has recorded top-20 finishes in every competition this season.
Helping the Cats to a great finish was sophomore, Emily King. King was second to cross the finish line for the Cats in a time of 21:39.0, improving on her SEC Championship 6k time. Senior, Beth Heimann and freshman Lavera Morris fed off of each other, finishing seconds apart to help Kentucky finish eighth. Heimann recorded a time of 22:12.0 while Morris finished in a time of 22:13.2. Completing the five for the Wildcats was Candace Leep who recorded a time of 22:19.2.
?The women ran extremely well, to finish eighth in a region as tough as this is outstanding,? said Weber. ?We were very dependent upon Ali and Emily?s finishes today and they came through with flying colors. Candace (Leep), Lavera (Morris) and Beth (Heimann) made the difference for us to finish eighth.?
The Kentucky women?s team finished among the nation?s elite teams, including Southeast Region Champion, Duke. The top-four teams all garnered top-25 rankings coming into the meet. Tenth ranked NC State and eighth ranked North Carolina finished second and third, with unranked Virginia sneaking in fifth. No. 21 Wake Forest finished fourth with William & Mary and James Madison finishing sixth and seventh. Kentucky, Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech completed the top-ten. Duke and NC State automatically advance to NCAA Championships Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.
The men?s team also competed at the Southeast Regional, running a 10k race at Lake Kristi. The top-five for the Cats were: Chris Millisor (32.13.3), freshman Andre Silva (21:13.8), John Richardson (32:28.4) Andrew Thompson (33:45.0) and freshman Chris Long) 34:00.4.
NC Sate and William & Mary automatically advance to the men?s NCAA Championship as do individual champions, freshman Josh McDougal of Liberty and North Carolina junior Carol Henry.
Other competitors for Kentucky were freshman Meg Brunick (23:17.1) and sophomore Georganne Way (23:41.9).
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