Northcutt Wins at Great American Festival

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Sept. 18, 2001) Tara Northcutt won the collegiate race at the Great American Cross Country Festival, finishing the 5K course in a time of 16:56.

"The humidity here was different but the course we ran was fun," Northcutt said. "When I finished the race I was surprised I was done. It was a good confidence builder and I was really happy with my time."

The Cougars were unable to bring home the team title, coming in just behind No. 9 N.C. State for a second-place finish. The Wolf Pack had 41 points to BYU's 59.

"We have some work to do but I feel good about how well the team performed against a talented field," Shane said. "We lost to a team that was underrated in the polls but you'll see N.C. State rise in the rankings after this win."

In addition to the No. 4 Cougars and No. 9 N.C. State, the field consisted of four other teams ranked in the top 25. Those teams are No. 6 North Carolina, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 25 Duke.

Lindsey Thomsen was the second BYU finisher, coming in 13th overall in a time of 17:31. Thomsen has been hampered by injury and had only trained for three days coming into the race.

"I'm excited that I did as well as I did with very little training," Thomsen said. "The team did a great job of helping each other today and I thought we stayed in a pack well during the race."

Great American Cross Country Festival

Top Five Team Finishers

1. N.C. State 41

2. BYU 59

3. North Carolina 83

4. Arkansas 95

5. Duke 130

Individual BYU Finishers

1. Tara Northcutt 16:56

13. Lindsey Thomsen 17:32

14. Jessie Kindschi 17:34

17. Katie Martin 17:41

18. Sarah Taylor 17:42

21. Amy Bair 17:49

26. Emily Mars 17:57

32. Jill Rencher 18:05

43. Devra Vierkant 18:17

54. Anika Smith 18:27

59. Jaime Cottle 18:29

62. Tiffany Rust 18:34