Nov. 22, 2004

Terre Haute, Ind. - The Wake Forest women's cross country team finished 19th at the 2004 NCAA Championship on Monday. Selina Sekulic paced the Deacons with a 39th place finish, earning her All-American honors. The Deacs finished fourth last weekend at the southeast regional to secure an at large bid to the championship in Terre Haute.

The Deacs, plagued by injuries to their starting five all year, ran three of their top-five in Monday's race. "I'm so proud of the way these girls executed the race plan," said head coach Annie Bennett. "The course conditions were muddy and messy and the girls physically and mentally got through it. They showed so much character all season, especially today."

The top-30 American runners earn All-American status, so although Sekulic finished 39th overall, with the removal of the non-American participants, she finished in 27th place, good for her first All-American honors.

Michelle Sikes placed 101st overall, with a time of 21:57.0. Junior Hanna Bremler came in 107th. Sekulic, Sikes and Bremler each placed in the top-25 at the regional race and all three were named All-Region for their performances.

Caitlin Chrisman and Jill Miller also ran for the Deacons, finishing 163rd and 165th respectively. Liz Hankinson finished 222nd and Staci Honeyman placed 232nd.

Other ACC schools in the mix included Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State. The Blue Devils captured second place overall, followed by the Tarheels in 10th and the Wolfpack in 12th. Predicted winner Stanford finished fifth, as Colorado snatched the title. Kim Smith of Providence claimed the individual title by nearly 18 seconds.