Sept. 9, 2006

HOUSTON, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack cross country team competed in its first scored meet of the season Saturday at the Rice Invitational, and three of the six Ladyjacks who ran finished in the Top 25, among attached collegiate runners.

"I'm happy with our effort today, especially considering where we are in our training, this really being our first race effort of the season," SFA cross country coach Lou Snelling said.

Senior LaKoa McKeever was the first SFA runner to cross the line, finishing the 4,000-meter course in 15:21. Juniors Katrina Nicholas and Amber Bagwell were next. Nicholas took 21st overall (20th among scored runners) with a time of 15:34, and Bagwell finished 26th overall (24th among scored runners) with a time of 15:59.

Senior Kimbri Lettkeman took 28th place with a time of 16:22, freshman Megan Williams finished in 16:39 to take 29th place, and sophomore Elese Dawson crossed the line 30th with a time of 16:59.

"Today was a good start in the direction that we need to take to reach the goals we've set," Snelling said. "Where we finish in races right now isn't as important as the fact that we're improving every time we take the course. We're just starting to round into race fitness. We're not there yet, which is by design, but, with what I saw today, I know we'll be there by the championship portion of our season.

The SFA cross country program's next action will be Sept. 15 and 16, when the men's team will split up for meets in Indiana and College Station. The Ladyjacks will next compete on Sept. 30, at the Auburn Invitational.

"I'm looking forward to Auburn," Snelling said. "It will be exciting to get everybody on the line together at once for the first time this season."

-- SFA --