Nov. 10, 2007

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Richmond women's cross country team turned in an impressive ninth-place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship Saturday afternoon in Louisville, Ky. Amy Van Alstine and Kylee Schuler finished 28th and 29th overall, while the men finished 13th behind Matt Llano.

Van Alstine was back to full strength for the Spiders, after a week of illness leading up to the Atlantic 10 Championships. She and Schuler were the flag-bearers for a Richmond women's cross country team that recorded its best finish at the NCAA regional.

"What an awesome way to finish the season," said head coach Lori Taylor. "Amy and Kylee closed their gap to finish together. Our goal was a top-eight finish and we were right there. It was a very competitive race overall, we've gotten some great contributions from our underclassmen and we're very excited about the future of the women's cross country team."

With 257 points, the Spiders finished 24 points back of eighth-place Wake Forest. North Carolina State, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia Tech rounded out the women's top five in the 31-team field.

On the 6K E.P. "Tom" Saywer State Park course, Van Alstine posted a time of 21:25.40. Schuler was a spot behind her sophomore teammate in a time of 21:25.95. Nicol Traynor finished 49th in 21:42.05. Julie Rechel was 60th in a time of 21:53.50.

On the men's side, the Spiders were 13th in the field of 29 teams, led by the 60th-place finish from Matt Llano in a time of 31:45.50. Hunter Willis was 64th on the 10K course in 31:48.55, and Andrew Benford was 67th in 31:52.40.

"We had a goal of a top-10 finish coming in," said head coach Steve Taylor. "We're disappointed not to have that, but our guys ran well. We had a 26-second split between our first and fifth runners and that was better than what we were hoping for. It was a very good weekend overall."

Richmond scored 354 points was 36 points behind Kentucky. NC State also took the men's title, followed Louisville, Williams & Mary, Virginia and Liberty.