Women's Cross Country | 11/22/2014 1:28:00 PM

Montevallo, Ala.----The Wingate University women's cross country team will make its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II national championship meet, thanks to a third-place finish in the 2014 NCAA Division II Southeast Region championship race Saturday at the University of Montevallo Cross Country Course. The Bulldogs posted 91 points, only one point behind second-place North Georgia. Host Montevallo won the event with 60 points (women's results, men's results).
 
"Our women rallied over the second half of the race and earned their ticket to nationals," Wingate head women's cross country coach Joe Soehnlen says. "We stuck to our race plan and executed very well. I'm not sure I can pinpoint one effort as (better than) the next as they all did really well."

Bulldog sophomore Alyssa Johnson (San Jose, Calif.) and graduate student Brianna Stevens (Coshocton, Ohio) repeat as All-Region selections. Johnson finished fourth with a 6K time of 22:41.21. Stevens was 12th with a 6K time of 23:10.68. Stevens and Johnson were 14th and 15th, respectively, in the 2013 NCAA Division II Southeast Region in Charlotte.
 
Wingate sophomore Morgan Neher (Sedalia, Colo.) was 20th with a 6K time of 23:27.51. Neher was 34th in the 2013 event with an almost identical time (23:27.0). Bulldog junior Samantha Haering (Chalfont, Pa.) and freshman Valerie Griesche (Ingolstadt, Germany) were 30th (23:57.01) and 34th (24:06.64), respectively, to round out Wingate's top five scorers.
 
Wingate advances to the NCAA Division II national championship meet Saturday, Dec. 6 in Louisville, Ky. The event will take place at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. The South Atlantic Conference will send three individuals in addition to the Wingate team. Queens (N.C.) junior Catie Byrd (Zirconia, N.C.) and senior teammate Megan Wright (Orab, Ohio) were first and second, respectively, on the individual leader board. Mars Hill senior Jessica Viscusi (Bryson City, N.C.) was third, earning her second trip in a row to the national championship meet.

Wingate women's cross country
NCAA Division II national championship meet history
 
Individual participation (site)
2003 – Natalie Creech Topper (Cary, N.C.)
2006 – Amber Hines (Pensacola, Fla.)
2012 – Keeley Wood (Joplin, Mo.)
 
Team participation
2004 – Evansville, Ind.
2007 – Joplin, Mo.
2013 – Spokane, Wash.
2014 – Louisville, Ky.