Nov. 16, 2001
ATLANTA – Fresh off its first NCAA South Regional title, the Georgia Tech women’s cross country team will make its second-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday at the Furman University Golf Course in Greenville, S.C.
Leading the way for the No. 24 Yellow Jackets, ranked nationally for the first time in school history, is sophomore Renee Metivier, who won the individual title at last weekend’s regional meet. She posted a season-best time of 20:20.39 and cruised to the win by nearly 35 seconds.
“I’m anxious to see how Renee does,” said Tech head coach Alan Drosky. “It’s contingent upon her continuing to run like she has run, but I think she can be in the top five. I think she’s capable of that. I can see scenarios where she wins it. I think Renee has been getting better each week.”
Joining Metivier will be all-region teammates senior Nicole Campbell, sophomore Katie Griffin and seniors Sara Pardue and Amy Edwards. These five combined to score just 54 points at the regional meet. Also expected to compete for Tech are freshman Katie deVaux and sophomore Betsy Bulat.
Drosky believes this group can finish higher than its No. 24 national ranking.
“I certainly want to finish in the top 25 at the national meet, but I want to actually finish higher than that,” Drosky said. “I think if we run the kind of race that we ran at the regional championship we can finish in the top 20. I think we have an opportunity to be in the upper teens. That’s what I’m really hoping for. I look at a number of teams ranked in that 15-22 range and there are a lot of teams that I think we can beat.”
Contenders for the national title include top-ranked Stanford, Brigham Young and Georgetown. Colorado, who won the title last season at Ames, Iowa, is ranked sixth nationally entering the meet.
Tech will be joined in the meet by Atlantic Coast Conference rivals NC State, ranked fourth nationally, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 14 Virginia. Tech finished fourth at the ACC Championships behind the Wolfpack, Tar Heels and Cavaliers.
In their first-ever trip to the NCAA meet, the Yellow Jackets placed 31st a year ago.
-GT-
