Women's Cross Country Lands At No. 20 In USTFCCCA Polls
November 16, 2015 | Cross Country
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Going into its first-ever NCAA Championships appearance, the Mississippi State women's cross country team is ranked No. 20 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country National Coaches' Poll.
MSU, previously ranked No. 17, punched its first ticket to the NCAA Championships after recording a program-best second-place finish at last weekend's NCAA South Regional in Tuscaloosa.
The team scored 78 points, with all five scorers finishing in the Top 35. Four MSU runners – Marta Freitas, Rhianwedd Price, Cornelia Griesche and Mia Meydrich – claimed All-Region honors after placing in the Top 25.
New Mexico tops this week's rankings, with SEC opponents Arkansas and Vanderbilt coming in at Nos. 3 and 19, respectively.
Leading the way in all five meets she's competed in this season, senior Freitas captured sixth with a time of 20:25.84.
Rhianwedd Price, a junior, followed Freitas with a 10th-place showing, earning All-Region accolades for the third-straight year with a time of 20:34.34.
Griesche, a senior, captured 15th place, running a time of 20:41.32 to earn All-Region accolades for the third year in a row.
Meydrich, a sophomore, and junior Lisa Ziegler finished in the fourth and fifth spots for Coach Houston Franks' squad, placing 17th and 34th, respectively.  Â
Ffion Price finished 39th with a time of 21:27.48, while Shannon Fair recorded a 52nd-place finish with a time of 21:35.03.
All seven athletes will vie for the national title Saturday at 11 a.m. CT at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
For more information on the MSU cross country teams, visit HailState.com and follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (@HailStateTF).
