UTSports Women's Athletics
 

Felicia Guliford
 Felicia Guliford
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Gallop, N.M.
High School:
Gallop
Height:
5-5
Experience:
2L

COLLEGIATE PROFILE

2005: After overcoming some early season illness, Felicia returned to her familiar role as team leader, earning All-SEC and NCAA All-Region accolades in the process...Missed the first two meets of the season, the Belmont Opener and Tennessee Invitational...Debuted at the 6K Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pa., finishing as UT's fourth scorer and taking 33rd out of 310 runners in 21:29.6...Moved back toward the front of the Big Orange pack two weekends later, as she crossed the line second on the team and 14th overall at the 6K Penn State National Invitational in 21:15...Returned to her role as the squad's leader at the SEC Championships and did not relinquish that responsibility the rest of the season...Paced Tennessee to its third-straight conference trophy, seizing second overall in a 6K career-best 19:46.23 at Fort Jackson Military Base in Columbia, S.C....Earned All-SEC accolades for the second straight season and posted the best league outcome by a Lady Vol since Patty Wiegand won in 1990...Grabbed the third all-region award of her career when she placed fifth at the 6K NCAA South Regional in 20:43.47 and helped the Big Orange post its fourth team triumph in a row at that meet...Capped her season with a clocking of 20:45.9 over 6K at the NCAA Championships, winding up 58th out of a field of 253 in her third career national appearance...For the second straight year, she was bestowed with Team MVP honors and was her squad's AOPi Lady Vol Athlete of the Year nominee... For the fourth time, she earned a spot on both the SEC and Thornton Academic and Student Life Center Academic Honor Rolls...

2004: Established herself as Tennessee's premier cross country runner as a sophomore, leading the team to the finish line in four races...Attained NCAA All-South Region status for the second occasion and All-SEC acclaim for the initial time...Uncorked a 21:06.23 readout over the 6K course to take fourth at the SEC Championships and lead Tennessee to its second consecutive conference team trophy...Was the Lady Vols' third scorer and was 14th overall in 21:34.62 at the 6K NCAA South Regional, as the Big Orange women clicked off their third straight triumph at that meet...Paced J.J. Clark's squad to a 21st-place team finish at the NCAA Championships, as she logged a 6K time of 21:45.5 to wind up 81st...Opened the campaign with a 5K career best of 17:32 to take second and chart the fastest time by a collegian at the Mel Brodt Invitational...Earned SEC Athlete of the Week kudos after that showing...Was UT's third finisher and covered the 6K trail 10th overall in 21:15.16 at the Paul Short Run...Logged a then-lifetime-best 6K performance of 20:55.3 to place 12th and lead Team Orange at the ISU Pre-Nationals meet...Winner of cross country Team MVP and Coaches Awards and was that sport's AOPi Lady Vol Athlete of the Year nominee...In the classroom, Felicia reaped 2004 Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association Academic All-America honors and was a second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV choice...For the third time, she earned a spot on both the SEC and Lady Vol Academic Honor Rolls...

2003: Felicia appeared in only one meet as a sophomore before redshirting...Finished third on the squad and ninth overall at the 5K Crimson Classic Invitational as UT took the team title...Charted a then-career-best time of 18:31.23 in that race...Joined the Lady Vol Academic Honor Roll and the SEC Academic Honor Roll for the second straight season...

2002: Was an impact performer as a freshman, earning NCAA All-South Region status...After struggling at the SEC meet two weekends earlier, Felicia rebounded strongly at the regional by crossing the line third on the squad and 14th overall in 22:34.20 for 6K, as Tennessee claimed the team trophy...She was on crutches the following week to take the pressure off a sore hip prior to the NCAA Championships...Her status for the NCAA meet was in question until race day...Gamely, she competed and scored for the Big Orange on a cold and blustery Indiana afternoon...She completed the 6K course in 23:00.4 to wind up fifth among Lady Vols and 246th overall...Was sixth on the team and 30th overall at the SEC Championships in 22:57.79...In her first-ever 6K race, Felicia was the Lady Vols' second scorer and took 17th overall in 22:04.57 on a muddy course at the PSU National Invitational...Just missed her first career victory as she and Sharon Dickie crossed neck-and-neck in 11:10 at the two-mile UTC Invitational...Felicia made her college debut in impressive fashion, placing fifth and scoring in third position with a time of 18:33.53 for the victorious Lady Vols at the 5K Tennessee Invitational...She followed first-place teammate Dickie across the finish line in a runner-up effort of 19:35 as Tennessee won the 5.3K adidas Wolfpack Classic on then-No. 6 North Carolina State's home course...Debuted on the Lady Vol and SEC Academic Honor Rolls...

PERSONAL PROFILE

HIGH SCHOOL: Felicia was a five-year member of the dominant cross country and track & field teams at Gallup High School, serving as the captain each season in XC and four times in track...A remarkable talent, she charted four New Mexico 5A state championships on the course, reigning from 1998 to 2001...All five seasons, however, she captured the district individual title, winning even as an eighth-grader, and helped GHS bring home district and state team titles in each of those campaigns...A three-time participant in Foot Locker National Championship competition, Felicia posted finishes of fourth in 1998, fifth in 1999 and sixth in 2001...At the regional level, she was fifth, second and second, respectively, during those years...She also grabbed first-place honors at the 1999 Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina with a 17:12 pace...Equally as impressive on the track, she claimed her fifth-straight state 3200m title in 2002...She was also a three-time 1600m and two-time 800m victor in New Mexico's highest prep classification...On the ball academically as well, Felicia was a 4.00 student at GHS, an All-American Scholar, senior class president and a member of National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes among other organizations...Additionally, she was chosen homecoming queen and received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award and the New Mexico Legislature Leadership Award...

PERSONAL: Felicia has chosen to major in the difficult field of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology and minor in Spanish...Has aspirations of becoming a pediatrician...She has three brothers, including Joshua, 26; Maurice, 23; and Daniel, 20...Maurice is a former middle distance runner at the University of New Mexico...Felicia Marie Guliford was born in Portales, N.M., on Oct. 24, 1984...Her parents are Lawrence and Edna Guliford.