Tampa Moves Into National Top-10 in Advance of NCAA Championships
NEW ORLEANS - Heading to the NCAA Division II National Championships, the University of Tampa women's cross country team is now No. 8 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll.
The Spartans opened the season at No. 15, and then spent two weeks at No. 12 before occupying the 13th-spot for four weeks and then the No. 11 slot for one week.
Tampa continued its NCAA South Region domination as it captured the program's sixth straight regional title. Kelly Hagan also won the individual championship for the Spartan women.
The regional title is the seventh in school history for UT as Hagan becomes the third straight Spartan to win the race as Heather Nicolosi won the previous two. The only other Tampa runner to win the regional was Jessica Forrester in 2008.
UT also captured its sixth-straight Sunshine State Conference championship and also has victories at the UT Early Bird Classic, USF Open and Jim Ryun Invitational. Tampa also finished fourth in a highly competitive UF Mountain Dew Invitational that featured predominantly NCAA Division I opponents.
Head coach Jarrett Slaven's squad closed the regular season with second-place finishes at both the Saint Leo and Florida State Invites, finishing behind Florida and Florida State respectively. At SLU and FSU, the Spartans outran a total of six NCAA Division I opponents.
Tampa's women have now been nationally-ranked for 66 consecutive weeks, a span dating back to the 2006 season.
USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning team strength with current-season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.
The NCAA Championships are slated for Nov. 17 in Joplin, Mo.