Stephen F. Austin
NCAA South Central Regional Championships
`Jacks Fifth At Regionals
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 14, 2009
WACO, Texas - Mitch Ownbey narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships, and the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks raced to a fifth-place finish as a team Saturday at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships. In the women's race, SFA finished eighth.
Ownbey, a junior, was one of two Lumberjacks to earn all-region honors as senior Keith Mahipala turned in a 21st-place finish. The duo led SFA to a team score of 159 points and the Lumberjacks' best finish at the regional meet since taking fourth in the 2006 race.
"We've been in the top five at regionals a lot in recent years," SFA head coach Lou Snelling said. "It's nice to be back in that position, especially considering that we only lose Keith. That's promising for the future."
Ownbey turned in a time of 31:17 of the 10,000-meter course, finishing just four seconds behind the 10th-place runner from Texas A&M and 15 seconds off the pace that would have netted him a spot in the NCAA Championships.
"In this region that's pretty impressive, especially for a sophomore," Snelling said. "He ran a good race and put himself in a good position. The fact that he could do that as a sophomore really bodes well for track and for the rest of his career."
Mahipala clocked in at 31:55, just a second behind Henry Rop of Southeastern Louisiana.
"I'm really excited for Keith," Snelling said. "He's put a lot into the program in four-and-a-half years. For him to finish out his cross country career being all-region is special. I'm proud of him and happy to see him run like that."
Junior Dennis Yeats was 35th with a time of 32:39. Sophomore Harmon McClanahan took 45th with a time of 33:09, and classmate Logan Smart rounded out the SFA scoring runners with a 51st-place time of 33:16.
Sophomore Xavier Rodriguez was 72nd with a time of 33:46, and sophomore Adam Saloom took 108th with a time of 35:16.
"The guys bounced back really well," Snelling said. "They were obviously disappointed with their performance at conference, and this was their opportunity to step up and prove that they're a much better team than that. Fifth in our region behind the teams we raced against today is pretty impressive. I'm always happy to have two guys take all-region."
In the women's race, sophomore Stephanie Ganter paced the Ladyjacks by finishing 32nd with a time of 22:21 on the 6,000-meter course. Junior Amy Shackelford was two seconds and two spots behind her in 34th, and true freshman Haley Parsons took 42nd with a time of 22:45.
"We just looked tired," Snelling said. "I don't think you can go through what we went through the last two weeks and not be exhausted. We ran hard. I firmly believe we ran as hard as we could. It was everything we had. We're a much better team than that, but that's the way it goes sometimes."
Redshirt freshman Randi Wymer finished 48th with a time of 22:57, and junior Megan Jenkins rounded out the Ladyjack scoring runners with a 78th-place time of 23:31. Juniors Meredith Blocker (24:12) and Marie Flores (24:19) were 95th and 99th, respectively.
"Haley ran a very solid race for us," Snelling said. "She stepped up well as a true freshman finishing in our top three. Randi ran great for us today, too. I am proud of her.
- SFA -
