Cowgirls finish 10th at NCAA Championships

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Oklahoma State's women's cross country team finished 10th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday, in Terre Haute, Ind., at the Lavern-Gibson Cross Country Course.
The 10th-place finish is OSU's second highest finish in school history. The Cowgirls finished fifth in 1989.

Stanford claimed the team title with 146 points, while Colorado (181 points), Duke (185 points), Arizona State (191 points) and Illinois (212 points) rounded out the top five. OSU came in 10th with a score of 377 points. Northern Arizona's Johanna Nillson won the individual title with a time of 19:33.

The Cowgirls were led behind the running of sophomore standout Mary Davies. Davies, who competed in her second consecutive championship, ran well despite a fall at the 200-meter mark as she finished 31st with a time of 20:30. Davies' finish was one place from earning All-America honors, as the top 30 runners claim the honor.

Senior Valentina Medina ran well in her final race in an OSU uniform as she finished 73rd with a time 20:54.

"It was a great experience for me as I had one of my best performances in the four years that I have ran at OSU," Medina said.

The most impressive performance came from freshman Anissa Angelosante as she finished 96th with a time of 21:23.

"I was surprised because I didn't expect to finish where I did," Angelosante said. "This year was a great experience because the team was behind me the whole season."

Angelosante said that her performance gives her more confidence and that she believes that this team will be better next season.

"We are going to be awesome next year," Angelosante said. "We lose some good runners this year, but I am looking forward to next year with all of the talent returning."

Junior Eva Slavikova and senior Barbora Kuncova then stepped in as the fourth and fifth runners for OSU as they ran the 6-kilometer race in respectable times of 21:24 and 21:25.

OSU got added support from freshman Nina Andersson and sophomore Eva Tomankova. The duo didn't score for the team, as they finished with times of 21:37 and 21:56, respectively.

"It is good anytime your team finishes in the top 10," Cowgirl head coach Rene Sepulveda said. "Our goal in the beginning of the season was to finish in the top 15 and we accomplished that.

"We had a great year and we exceeded each of our expectations."