Augusta State Fifth, Columbus Sixth at NCAA Women's Regional

HUNTSVILLE, ALA -- The Augusta State women's cross country team turned in their best performance of the season as they were the top Peach Belt team at the NCAA South Region Championship on Saturday. The Lady Jaguars finished fifth in the 23-team region race while Columbus State was sixth.  The University of Tampa won the meet and will advance to the NCAA National Championships in Joplin, Mo.  Harding and Alabama-Huntsville also earned spots.  Unfortunately, no PBC teams or individuals qualified for nationals.

Augusta State had three runners – junior Jenafer Forward and seniors Annie Kim and Kristyn Holley – place among the top 32.  ASU tallied a total of 191 points. Forward placed 21st, followed by Kim in 28th and Holley in 32nd. Sophomores Kara Kreutzer and Kaci McCane finished 43rd and 67th, respectively. The Jags have finished ninth and fifth at the South Regional in the last two seasons under fourth-year head coach Adam Ward.  According to Ward, each of the Jaguars posted their personal-best times in the regional.

Columbus State finished with 222 points for sixth place.  Isabel Speer, who won the PBC Championship two weeks ago, was the highest individual finisher in the Peach Belt, covering the 6k region course in 23:15.  Kandace Smith was 30th in 23:44 while Tiara Brown was 36th in 23:57.  Harding's Janee Jones won the race in a time of 21:17.

Other Peach Belt teams in contention were GCSU in 15th, North Georgia in 18th, USC Aiken in 19th and Francis Marion in 21st.

To see complete results of the region meet, please click here.