Nov. 21, 2008

NCAA Meet Notes | Meet Information | Video Streaming

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Senior Sarah Bowman and junior Jackie Areson will represent the University of Tennessee Monday, when they take part in the 28th NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Start time for the 6,000-meter race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course is 12:08 p.m. Eastern Time.

CBS College Sports Network will carry the meet live, beginning at noon, while www.ncaa.com streams the event on the Internet. A total of 31 teams and 255 student-athletes are scheduled to compete in both the women's and men's races, which will be hosted by Indiana State University and held at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center for the sixth time in the past seven years. The men are scheduled to run at 12:48 p.m. ET.

"The NCAA Championship meet is the pinnacle of the collegiate experience," UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. "It's the meet where all the top NCAA competitors go, and everyone strives very hard to get there. Some fall short, some make it, and there are some surprises.

"For working hard throughout the year, the student-athletes who make the meet are able to reap the benefits. Unfortunately, our team didn't make it, but Sarah and Jackie both were able to advance individually. I look forward to seeing what they can do in Terre Haute."

Bowman, a product of Warrenton, Va., will be making her third career appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, while Areson earned her second bid. Bowman finished 97th at the national meet in 2006 with a time of 22:08.1 and was 231st as a freshman in 2005 at 22:40.4. Areson, meanwhile, logged a time of 22:35.6 in 2006 to finish 161st.

After pacing her squad in all five of her races this season and posting four top-five individual finishes, Bowman improved her career totals in those categories to 14 and 11. She now has scored for UT in all 23 of her collegiate starts. Areson, meanwhile, has scored in 16 consecutive starts and ran second for Team Orange in three of five meets in 2008.

"Sarah has been very consistent this year," Clark said. "She, for the first time in her career, was the lead runner for us from the beginning of the season to the end. I would just like to see her maintain that consistency through her final cross country race as a Lady Vol, and hopefully, that will lead her to the best NCAA finish of her career."

The Big Orange duo will be striving to earn the first All-America honors by a UT woman since Sharon Dickie did so by placing 29th at the bone-chilling 2000 meet in Ames, Iowa. In all, seven Lady Vols have earned eight NCAA All-America certificates. Those numbers jump to nine and 12 when you add in the AIAW Championships, which were the predecessor to NCAA competition for women.

A four-time All-SEC and three-time All-South Region honoree, Bowman made the meet by finishing second in 20:50.29 at the NCAA South Regional in Maryville on Nov. 15. Areson, a native of Delray Beach, Fla., punched her ticket by finishing 11th at the regional in 21:15.52. Each earned automatic qualification by virtue of finishing among the top four individuals at the South Regional not on automatic qualifying teams.

It was not an easy task for Areson, who had to overcome a physical setback to put herself into position for an NCAA bid.

"Jackie had a decent summer of training, and then toward the end of the summer she ran into some injury problems that would carry over into the first couple weeks of school," Clark said. "Because of that, she might have missed four to five weeks of training right off the bat. She gradually got herself back into it and has gotten stronger and stronger.

"We know she's talented, and it's good to see that talent come out. It's just a matter of keeping her healthy. We were able to do that for the remainder of the cross country season, and as a result she ended up making the NCAA Championship. That was very, very good to see."

The presence of Bowman and Areson ensures that Tennessee will be represented for the 15th time in the 28-year history of the NCAA women's meet. Ten of those seasons, the Lady Vols qualified as a team, while the other five featured individual participants. This marks the sixth time in seven years under the direction of Clark that UT women have been counted among the competitors at this meet.