The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Cross Country Championships
Hall earns All-America honors; Women's Cross Country places 25th at NCAA Championships
11.17.2012 | Track & Field / Cross Country w, Track & Field / Cross Country
Nov. 17, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Junior Marielle Hall earned her first career cross country All-America honor to lead Texas to a 25th-place finish at the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday afternoon at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park.
Hall, the 2012 USTFCCCA South Central Region Athlete of the Year, crossed 23rd overall in 20:04.5 to become UT's eighth cross country All-American all-time. It was the highest finish for a Longhorn at the national meet since Tina Hall placed 14th in 1989.
"I was just really excited," Hall said. "It was really fast and we knew that coming into it and (coach) Steve (Sisson) just told us to stay relaxed and stay focused. I knew we would have to pick it up a lot in the second part of the race and I did my best to make that happen and was really happy with the result.
"I wish we could have done a little more for our seniors today because it's always more rewarding to perform well collectively instead of individually, but you learn and grow from everything. So we will take how we did today and learn from it and come back next year with this experience."
Three more Longhorn juniors finished next for UT, beginning with Sara Sutherland, who clocked a time of 20:26.8 for 58th. She was followed by Megan Siebert (21:07.9, 153rd) and Brittany Marches (21:32.8, 204th). Rounding out the scoring for Texas was senior Laleh Mojtabaeezamani, who finished 221st overall in 21:43.7. Freshman Kendall Howen (247th, 22:23.6) and senior Anne Jones (251st, 22:44.3) also raced on Saturday for UT.
"The day belongs to Marielle Hall. What she accomplished is just proof that this program is moving in the right direction," said Texas coach Steve Sisson. "The training and focus are in the right place and we're going to go into the track season with that as our mindset. As far as the team goes, we are a bit disappointed. We thought we had a real chance to surprise people in the country. But if you don't execute the race plan, it makes it hard to get out of a deep hole, and I think we dug ourselves a deep hole today."
Oregon took home the team title with 114 points, followed by Providence, Stanford, Florida State and Michigan. Iowa State's Betsy Saina, the Big 12 Conference and Midwest Region champion, was the top individual finisher, crossing the line in a course-record 19:27.9.
The Longhorns' 2013 indoor track season will kick off Jan. 12 at the Alabama Crimson Tide Indoor Opener.
NCAA Cross Country Championships
Team Scores
1. Oregon (114 points)
2. Providence (183 points)
3. Stanford (198 points)
4. Florida State (202 points)
5. Michigan (247 points)
6. Arizona (263 points)
7. Duke (300 points)
8. Connecticut (304 points)
9. Washington (334 points)
10. New Mexico (341 points)
25. TEXAS (526 points)
Individual Results
1. Betsy Saina, Iowa State - 19:27.9
2. Abbey D'Agostino, Dartmouth - 19:28.6
3. Jordan Hasay, Oregon - 19:28.6
4. Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton, Wichita State - 19:33.6
5. Risper Kimaiyo, UTEP - 19:41.0
6. Cally Macumber, Kentucky - 19:42.2
7. Mareike Schrulle, Iowa - 19:43.3
8. Alexi Pappas, Oregon - 19:43.9
9. Laura Hollander, Cal Poly - 19:45.2
10. Sarah Collins, Providence - 19:50.7
Texas Results
23. Marielle Hall - 20:04.5 (16 points)
58. Sara Sutherland - 20:26.8 (43 points)
153. Megan Siebert - 21:07.9 (118 points)
204. Brittany Marches - 21:32.8 (166 points)
221. Laleh Mojtabaeezamani - 21:43.7 (183 points)
247. Kendall Howen - 22:23.6
251. Anne Jones - 22:44.3
