Women's Cross Country Takes 28th At NCAA Championship Meet

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Marquette women's cross country team finished 28th overall today at the NCAA National Championship meet.

"Our goal was to finish higher than we ended up finishing today," said head coach Dave Uhrich. "But the big thing we are focusing on was that we were one of 31 teams here competing."

Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was junior Jodi Jakubek who placed 108th overall with a 6k time of 22:02. Cassie Peller finished her freshman season with a strong finish of 149th and a time of 22:22 in her first ever NCAA Championship meet.

"Jodi is in very good shape and had everything gone the way she would have liked, she would have been All-American," Uhrich added. "The course wasn't conducive to her style of running, it was wet and muddy. The course conditions were the same for everyone, that is part of the game."

Sophomore Heidi Lindeman was the next Golden Eagle finisher taking 164th in a time of 22:29.

Junior Susie Emond was the 197th finisher with a time of 22:57. Right behind her was junior Allison Sauer (203rd, 22:59) and Susie's twin sister, Theresa Emond (206th, 23: 01). Rounding out the Marquette finishers was junior Michaela Courtney who took 235th with a time of 23:41. Each of Marquette's seven finishers will return to next year's team as they will join the BIG EAST Conference.

"I think that is the big thing," said Uhrich. "We continued our streak of getting to nationals and we return the entire team that went to nationals this year. This was a great learning experience for our team. Next year our goal will be to again get there, but also to finish in the top 15."

This was Marquette's fifth straight trip to the national meet and the Golden Eagles stand as one of eleven schools to have qualified each of the last five years.

Colorado won the women's team title and Kim Smith of Providence won the individual title with a time of 20:09.
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