Nov. 14, 2005

Cassie Ficken
Women's Cross Country
Senior
Conifer, Colo.

Cassie captured an automatic bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships with a ninth place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Ficken was the top individual finisher not on a qualifying team in the region, automatically placing her in the 255-runner national championship race on Monday, November 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is one of just two competitors from the Atlantic 10 Conference to advance.

It will be the third straight NCAA Championship event for Cassie, who also competed at the indoor and outdoor track national championships last school year. Her previous best finish at a regional was 38th in her sophomore season.

She led the Charlotte women's team to a 10th place finish in a very strong field. All nine teams ahead of the 49ers were ranked nationally or in the top 10 of the regional rankings.

Other Nominees: De'Angelo Alexander (men's basketball), John Nabors (men's soccer).