Tampa Concludes Season With 10th Place Showing At NCAA Nationals

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Competing in its seventh consecutive NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country Championships, The University of Tampa placed 10th of 24 teams at the finals.

The finish marks the fourth top-10 finish in program history for the Spartans, who were 14th in 2008. Prior to placing 10th in 2007, UT was eighth in 2003 and 2004.

Senior Dara Fox was Tampa's top runner, finishing 43rd overall with a time of 22:21.9. Jess Butler also finished in the top-50 with a 49th place showing. Butler ran a time of 22:28.2. Alysha Duffy, Heather Nicolosi and Sara Nelson rounded out the Spartan top five. Freshman Kaia Hampton and Paige Williams also competed for UT.

UT concludes the 2009 season as the Sunshine State Conference and NCAA South Regional champions. The Spartans also won three regular season meets, including the UT Early Bird Classic, Florida Tech Invite and Pre-Nationals.

The women's team race was claimed by Adams State for the seventh-consecutive year as freshman Alicia Nelson led a group of five Grizzly All-Americans to the title with a seventh-place overall finish. Grand Valley State, who also had five earn All-American honors, was second in the team competition followed by Missouri Southern.

Seattle Pacific's Jessica Pixler made NCAA history in becoming the first female Division II athlete to win three individual cross country championships, doing so with a seven-plus-second victory in the women's six-kilometer race (20:22.6). Western Washington junior Sarah Porter took second (20:30.1) while Missouri Southern's Ashley Siler (20:43.6) and Kimi Shank (20:44.5) placed third and fourth, respectively.