Angela Homan Runs To All-American Finish at the NCAA Championship
November 22, 2004
Terre Haute, Ind. - The weather was cold at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, but Auburn junior Angela Homan was not as she established herself as the best female cross country runner in AU history with a ninth place finish at the championships. Freshman Chris Walsh came in 73rd in the men's 10K.
In 30-degree weather, Homan ran the hilly 6K in 20:43.8 to place ninth in the 250-runner field. With this top finish, she earned her second cross country All-American honor and became the highest individual finisher at a cross country championship in AU history. Homan was also the highest SEC runner to finish the course as Kentucky's Allison Grace was 63rd (the next best SEC finisher).
Her All-American honor adds to a long list of achievements this Delphos, Ohio, native has garnered in 2004. Last week she was named the 2004 SEC Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year, for the second straight year, and was the 2004 South Region Female Athlete of the Year. She has two post-season individual titles with her SEC and South Region titles. Until the championships, Homan had not lost a race in 2004.
"I knew coming into the race that Angela would be a top 10 runner," head cross country coach Chris Fox said. "She had a good race. She had the best finish of any Auburn runner in school history today and that is something she can be very proud of. I look forward to seeing what she can do as a senior next year. Half of the runners who finished ahead of her today are seniors so we will expect something big from her in 2005."
Walsh, competing in only his second 10K as a Tiger, ran to a 73rd place finish in the 242-man field with a time of 32:19.8 in the 10K. He already has his place in the AU cross country record books after becoming only the second male to compete at the championships. In his freshman campaign as a Tiger, Walsh earned All-SEC and All-Region honors after finishing fifth in both events and leading his Tiger team. For his efforts this season Walsh was honored this week by being named the SEC Male Freshman of the Year.
The Colorado women took home the team title with 63 points, followed by Duke and Providence. Senior Kim Smith of Providence was the individual champion running the 6K in 20:09 to continue her winning streak. Colorado also dominated on the men's side as they won with 90 points, ahead of Wisconsin and Arkansas. Wisconsin's Simon Bairu won the men's title in a time of 30:37.7.
Results and photos from the championships can be viewed by visiting http://www.indstate.edu/athletics and/or http://www.trackshark.com.