Saturday, November 13, 2010

Senior Mackenzie Howe became the first Kennesaw State runner in the program’s Division I history to qualify for Nationals. Her time of 20:16.13 in Birmingham, Ala., was good enough for eighth place. In the complicated method for individual qualification to NCAA Nationals, she finished among the top three individuals who were not affiliated with one of the automatic qualifying teams to earn the nod.

Just two weeks after winning the Atlantic Sun Conference championship, Howe earned All-South Region honors for the second straight season. Now, Howe turns her attention to the competition on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind. and the National meet. For Howe, making it to Nationals was the goal since the beginning of the season.

"I went into the race today feeling confident and I was excited to see what I could do because of how hard I had been working," Howe said. "I knew where I had to finish in order to go to Nationals which was my goal and it feels great to actually achieve it. It will be great for me to run at Nationals against the fastest girls in the country. There is no better way to end my senior year than this."

A-Sun at the NCAA Regionals
South Region - Birmingham, Ala.
Full Results
A-Sun Participants: Belmont, Jacksonville (individuals only), Kennesaw State (individuals only), Lipscomb, Mercer, UNF

Top-5 Individuals
**8. Mackenzie Howe, Kennesaw State // 20:16.13
24.Shelby Kittrell, UNF // 20:52.15
38. Dani Walker, Lipscomb // 21:14.58
47. Erin Nixon, UNF // 21:34.74
49. Ashley Lehman, Lipscomb // 21:35.23

** Advances to NCAA Nationals as the third highest finisher not on an Automatic Qualifying team.

Team Results
9. Lipscomb // 283
11. UNF // 302
16. Belmont // 423
21. Mercer // 580