Cassie Ficken Completes NCAA Cross Country Championship
Nov. 21, 2005
Terre Haute, Ind. - Senior Cassie Ficken competed at her third straight NCAA meet here on Monday, finishing 179th out of 253 competitors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Ficken was one of just three Atlantic 10 Conference competitors overall, and one of two in the women's race. She completed the 6,000-meter course in 21:52.0.
At the race's 3,000-meter mark (the halfway point), Ficken was in a large chase pack of nearly 70 runners within 10 seconds of one another. That pack was between 21 and 32 seconds off the leader's pace (9:58).
Cassie was tied for 94th place overall at the halfway point with a split time of 10:23, or 25 seconds off the lead pace.
It was the first-ever NCAA Cross Country Championship for Ficken, who had finished ninth overall at the NCAA's Southeast Regional Championship last Saturday in Greenville, N.C. She also competed at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, where she earned an All-American award, and the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she finished 17th.
The temperature on Monday was around 43 degrees, with wind chill making it feel like 38.
Northern Arizona's Johanna Nilsson captured the NCAA title by over 12 seconds, finishing in 19:33.9, while Stanford put four runners in the top 35 to take home the women's team title.
|
|
 |
