Areson places third at region cross country

Tennessee's Jackie Areson will be making a return trip to the NCAA cross country championships.

The Lady Vols senior finished third at the NCAA South Regional meet Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She covered the 6,000-meter layout at Harry Pritchett Running Park in 20 minutes, 20.06 seconds.

The Tennessee men concluded their season by finishing sixth.

Areson earned All-South for the third time in her career. She was 10th at the meet in 2006 and 11th a year ago.

With her presence among the top four individual finishers not on the two automatic qualifying teams, she earned a trip to Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 23.

"Jackie ran a very comfortable race," Lady Vols coach J.J. Clark said. "She was in the race to win it, and she put forth a great effort. As far as the NCAA bid, we were expecting her to do that this season, and we're glad she was able to make that happen."

The 29th-ranked Lady Vols will have to hope for an at-large invitation to the NCAA meet after taking third with 102 points. Third-ranked Florida (33) and No. 9 Florida State (54) grabbed the two automatic bids, while UT, Georgia (114) and Vanderbilt (164) rounded out the top five squads. Tennessee found itself in this position a year ago and was passed over by the NCAA committee. Clark hopes for a different outcome this year.

"A lot goes into determining the at-large bids," Clark said. "I believe we are one of the top (31) teams in the country, and we are hopeful we'll get the opportunity to go to Terre Haute."

Senior Katie Van Horn also will pin her hopes to receiving an at-large invite after finishing 10th in a career-best 20:34.69 for her third appearance on the All-South team.

Van Horn, who was 11th at this meet in 2007 and eighth in 2006, finished fifth among individuals not on the top two squads, just one spot out of automatically joining Areson for the trip to Terre Haute.

Junior Brittany Sheffey earned All-South, placing 20th in 20:59.93. Rounding out UT's scoring five were sophomore Chanelle Price (32nd, 21:32.27) and senior Phoebe Wright (46th, 21:56.11).

The Vols scored 178 points. Host Alabama ran away with the men's top spot with 45 points, followed by Florida with 80.

UT junior Michael Spooner earned All-South by finishing 17th. He covered the 10,000-meter course in 30:49.27. He improved eight spots on his 25th-place regional finish last season.

"He was not that far out of qualifying for nationals with a mile to go,'' UT coach George Watts said.

Freshman Leoule Degfae finished 36th in 31:43.96. Also scoring were Peter Sigilai (37th, 31:45.09), Mike Brodsky (39th, 31:48.83) and Chris Bodary (55th, 32:27.88).

"We ran an OK race today,'' Watts said. "We couldn't quite hold the pace the last three to four kilometers of the race, and some of that was due to the youth of the team. ... we have a lot to look forward to next year."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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