Julia Hicks to Run in the National Championship Race
11/19/2006 12:00:00 AM
Terre Haute, IN- Alabama senior Julia Hicks will compete at the NCAA national championship race tomorrow at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN.
Hicks’ becomes the first Tide runner to compete in the national Championship race since Ashley Labudde qualified in 2000.
“To make the national championship race the goal that I have had all year” Hicks said.
Though the Crimson Tide team did not qualify for the championship race, Hicks was able to qualify as an individual. The top two teams in each NCAA regional automatically qualify for the team competition at the NCAA cross county national championships. The top four individual finishers in each regional whose team did not make the national championship field receive an automatic bid to the championship race. Hicks’ ninth place finish at last weeks NCAA south regional earned her one of those four spots.
“This is an amazing accomplishment” cross county coach Randy Hasenbank said. “Its not an easy task to make the national championship race.”
Hicks has been the top finisher for Bama in the last 13 races, dating back to the 2004 regional, including every race during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, winning the first two races of 2006.
The 6K race is set to begin at 11:00 CST.
