Cassie Ficken was ninth at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships Saturday. |
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Ficken Earns Berth in NCAA Championships as Niners Complete SE Regionals
Nov. 12, 2005
Greenville, N.C. - Charlotte 49ers senior Cassie Ficken has qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing 9th overall at the 2005 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday morning at Overton's Lake Kristi.
For her effort, Cassie earned All-Southeast Region honors and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
It will be the first trip to nationals in cross country for Ficken, who is a three-time all-conference selection in the sport. She made her first trip to the NCAA Championships in indoor track last winter, earning All-America notice in the 3,000-meter run. She also competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Ficken, who was third at the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championship two weekends ago, finished 9th in a field of 205 runners in the Southeast Regional Championship, hosted Saturday morning by East Carolina. She covered the 6,000-meter course in 20:28.8.
She led Charlotte to a 10th-place finish out of 28 teams.
The top two teams in each region automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, while four individual racers can earn automatic bids from each region.
Ficken claimed one of those auto berths into the championship by finishing as one of the top four individuals not already on a qualifying team.
Also scoring for the 49ers were junior Tsehaye Dagnachew (35th, 21:25.5), freshman Aja Jackson (42nd, 21:34.1), sophomore Amelia Slagle (100th), and freshman Stephanie Snyder (123rd).
Ficken red-shirted last cross country season. Her previous best regional finish was 38th, as a sophomore in 2002.
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Cassie's All-Southeast Region award marks the second in the last two years for a 49er. Ed Schlichter, now an assistant coach with the program, was 21st overall in last year's SE Region race.
The Niners finished ahead of Davidson (previously ranked 9th in the SE Region poll), Virginia Tech, Liberty, Richmond, Appalachian State, Western Kentucky, Clemson, Eastern Kentucky, Campbell, High Point, Elon, UNC Greensboro, UNC Wilmington, South Carolina, Gardner-Webb, East Carolina, Western Carolina, and Charleston.
The nine teams ahead of Charlotte were all regional powers, including Region champion and unanimous national No. 1 Duke, No. 9 N.C. State, Virginia (national receiving votes), No. 12 Wake Forest, William & Mary (national receiving votes), No. 24 North Carolina, Coastal Carolina (SE #8), James Madison (SE #10) and Kentucky (SE #5).
In the men's 10,000-meter race, Charlotte finished 16th out of 30 teams. The Niners were led by senior Jamil Muhaimin's 50th-place finish. Senior Russell Slade was 59th, while junior Ken Simeone finished 76th. Sophomore Nick Sunseri was 86th, while freshman Adu Dentamo was 106th to round out the team's scoring.
The men's team finished ahead of Coastal Carolina, Richmond, VMI, Davidson, Western Kentucky, Western Carolina, Radford, UNC Asheville, Morehead State, Elon, UNC Greensboro, Charleston, Gardner-Webb and host East Carolina.
The NCAA Cross Country Championship takes place Monday, November 21 in Terre Haute, Indiana. The 49ers previewed the course at the Pre-Nationals race on October 15, when Ficken finished 38th out of 232 runners in the women's Blue race. She finished the 6,000-meter championship course in 21:07.1 that day.
Charlotte has had three student-athletes earn a total of four All-America awards in cross country through the years. Molly Kerin became the school's first cross country All-American with back-to-back awards in 1994 and 1995. Kenneth Svendsen and Kelly Travis each earned All-America status in cross country in 1999.
