Nov. 14, 2009

Springfield, Mo. - The University of Tulsa men's cross country team finished seventh and the women's team placed eighth to conclude their seasons on Saturday at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in Springfield, Mo.

Senior John Beattie led the men's team with an eighth-place finish, completing the 10K course in 31:00.4, followed by junior Lewis Timmins in 24th with a time of 31:37.1. Beattie and Timmins both earned All-Midwest Region honors with top-25 finishes.

Beattie just missed out on automatically qualifying to run individually at the NCAA National Championships, finishing sixth out of runners on non-automatic qualifying teams. Only the top four individuals on non-automatic qualifying teams earn a guaranteed berth. Beattie will await an at-large selection, which will be announced by the NCAA on Sunday.

The men's team came into the meet looking for a good finish to earn a spot at nationals, but placed seventh out of the 25-team field. Oklahoma State won the meet with 50 points and Oklahoma finished second with 71 points to earn automatic berths into the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.

"It wasn't a good performance," Head Coach Steve Gulley said. "We didn't run a good race up front, and it was not the time to have a bad race when you are looking to go to nationals."

The men's team finished with 174 points behind Oklahoma State (50 points), Oklahoma (71), Iowa State (109), Minnesota (125), Southern Illinois (160) and Iowa (170).

The women's team placed eighth out of a field of 22 teams with 220 points, behind Minnesota (60), Illinois (86), Iowa State (106), Nebraska (147), Iowa (160), Wichita State (200) and Missouri (202).

"I was pleasantly surprised with our women's performance," Gulley said. "You could see them heading in the right direction over the past few meets, but this was their best performance of the season."

Junior Melanie Cleland led the way with a 30th-place performance, running the 6K course in 21:43.7. She was followed by freshman Jaclyn Rollins in 39th in 21:54.6 and sophomore Paula Whiting in 53rd with a time of 22:11.8.

Men's Scores - 7th out of 25 teams (174 points)
8. John Beattie	, 31:00.4
24. Lewis Timmins, 31:37.1
43. Justin Duncan, 32:19.1
45. Kyle Dekker, 32:20.5
65. Carl Stones, 32:59.2
Women's Scores - 8th out of 22 teams (220 points)
30. Melanie Cleland, 21:43.7
39. Jaclyn Rollins, 21:54.6
53. Paula Whiting, 22:11.8
57. Lana Kelley, 22:16.7
58. Ashley Scott, 22:19.9
93. Erin Huddleston, 23:10.2
101. Laura Englehutt, 23:19.1