Wednesday, July 12, 2000

Auburn, Ala. - East Tennessee State senior Catherine Berry won the NCAA South Region Qualifying Meet on the Indian Pines Golf Course in Auburn, Ala. The Bucs finished eighth in the 23-team field.

With the victory, Berry qualifies for the 1999 NCAA Cross Country Championship that will be run on Nov. 22 in Bloomington, Ind.

Berry, who finished second in the Southern Conference Championships on Oct. 31, finished the 5,000M race in 16:51, 13 seconds ahead of South Florida's Adrea Dempsey who finished second. South Florida captured the team title.

Joining Berry for the ETSU women's team was Val Urchison (17:35/20th); Tanya Brown (18:11/46th); Kim Hemstreet (18:12/47th); Emily Campbell (19:00/83rd) and Trudy Gardner (19:36/113rd).

The ETSU men's squad finished 10th in a 10,000M race. The Bucs were led by Zach Whitmarsh who finished 35th with a time of 31:24. Also competing for the Bucs was Aaron Baird (31:27/39th); Gregg Sprowl (31:54/52nd); Mitchell Jones (32:23/71st) and Patrick Sizemore (32:46/92nd). Southern Mississippi won the men's race.