NEW ORLEANS – A pair of Anderson University women's cross country standouts have earned All-Southeast Region accolades, as officially announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA), earlier this week.
The junior duo of Olivia Evans and Olivia Rish were among 200 women from nearly 100 different programs across the country that garnered All-Region region recognition by finishing in the top-25 at one of the eight NCAA regional sites this past weekend. Only athletes from USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for the honor.
Rish posted a personal-best time of 22:57.6 over the 6K course at last weekend's NCAA Southeast Region Championship, while claiming 16th place in the event. Evans crossed the finish line in 24th place in a time of 23:10.2.
Five teams in the country had all seven of their athletes earn All-Region honors. The lone men's program was Grand Valley State, while the women's programs from Colorado School of Mines, Roberts Wesleyan, Stonehill, and U-Mary all achieved the feat.
Eight programs totaled six honorees on their respective squads. Alabama-Huntsville, Augusta, Chico State and Colorado School of Mines did so on the men's side, and the women's squads were Augustana (S.D.), Grand Valley State, Lee (Tenn.) and Western Colorado.
Colorado School of Mines and Grand Valley State led all of Division II with a combined 13 All-Region athletes a piece between its men's and women's programs. Roberts Wesleyan is third with 12.
In addition, five men's programs and five women's programs placed their five scored athletes at regionals on All-Region squads.
On the conference level, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference led the way with a combined 45 honored athletes. The Northeast-10 Conference had the second most athletes with 34, while the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference had 31, the California Collegiate Athletic Association totaled 30, and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tallied 27 athletes.
