The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Conference USA Championships
Blazers Finish Fourth In Conference USA Championship
10/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 27, 2007
SANTA TERESA, N.M - The UAB cross country team ran to a fourth-place finish at the Conference USA Championship and senior Elizabeth Ambrus earned league honors here Saturday morning.
Ambrus paced the Blazers with a seventh-place finish and earned C-USA accolades for the third time in her career. Head coach Ray Stanfield said the reason the Blazers were unable to defend their conference title was due to the rest of his team not finishing higher as a group.
"We just didn't get much help from the rest of the pack," Stanfield said. "In order to win a meet like this, they needed to have a higher finish as a group."
Ambrus finished the 5K meet with a time of 18:23.5 and surprised Stanfield after she had missed four weeks of running recovering from an illness.
"It was an incredible performance for her not being able to prepare for this event like she normally would," Stanfield said. "She'll have two more weeks before the regional meet and can hopefully make it back to nationals."
The rest of the team was led by senior Whitney Mays who finished 20th in a time of 19:08.4. Freshman Stephanie Gammon and sophomore Kristina Olsen finished in 24th and 25th place with times of 19:22.0 and 19:25.2, respectively.
Senior Elizabeth Hilligoss placed 45th with a time of 20:13.1 and missed her chance at becoming the second C-USA athlete to win conference honors four consecutive years. Freshman Lacey Wright rounded out the Blazers runners with a 50th place finish in a time of 20:41.5.
Rice, the 17th-ranked team in the nation, captured the team title for the second time in three years, scoring 26 points and placing four runners in the top-six. Tulsa's Alex Becker (17:34) was the individual champion.
The meet was held on the Spanish Dagger course at the Santa Teresa Country Club.
UAB will race next at the NCAA South Regional Nov. 11 in Gainesville, Fla.
