Women finish third at NCAA Mountain Regionals

OGDEN, Utah – Andrea Nelson Harrison led the BYU women’s cross country team to a third place finish today at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships with a total of 109 points.

Harrison finished in ninth overall and first for BYU in the 6K race with a time of 20:47.1.

“We ran the best race we have won all year and Andrea had the best race of her life,” head coach Patrick Shane said. “I feel really good about our performance today.”

No. 10 Colorado finished in first place, while No. 8 New Mexico took second place, automatically qualifying both teams for nationals.

Lindsey Sowards Nielson finished second for BYU and in 16^th place overal with a time of 21:02.0. Natalie Shields finished 22^nd overall and third for BYU with a time of 21:09.8. Sarah Yingling finished fourth for BYU and 25^th overall with a time of 21:19.8. BYU’s fifth runner was Nicole Nielsen who finished 37^th overall with a time of 21:31.7.

Harrison, Nielson, Shields and Yingling were all selected to the Mountain All-Region team.

BYU has the potential to be selected for an at-large bid for the NCAA Nationals race and will be officially informed Saturday evening if it will be invited. The national championship race will be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday Nov. 23.