TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Weber State's young guns earned their stripes on Monday at the NCAA championships.
Weber State's women's cross country team finished 29th out of 31 teams at the 2011 NCAA Division I championship on Monday at Terre Haute, Ind.
The Wildcats were led by sophomore Amber Henry, who finished 46th overall in a time of 20:35 over the 10,000 meter course on the campus of Indiana State University.
Henry just missed earning all-America honors. The top 40 runners in the field were accorded that honor.
"Amber missed earning all-America honors by less than five seconds, but she is just a sophomore and next year she will be even better," said WSU coach Paul Pilkington.
"What really excites me is that we have everyone back next year. It was good for our whole team to come here and experience what the national meet is all about. It gives them experience and knowledge about what it takes to compete at the highest level and I know this group will work hard the next 365 days to compete at that level," Pilkington said.
Junior Sarah Callister finished finished 105th in the field of 254 runners in a time of 21:17. Rounding out the top five runners for the Wildcats were junior Laken Hintze at 21:26, junior Taylor Thornley at 22:11, and Kayla Blackford at 22:12.
The race was won by Georgetown. Villanova's Sheila Reid crossed the finish line first in 19:41.
BYU's women's team finished 28th, led by Morgan Haws, who posted a 145th-place finish in 19:59. Utah's Amanda Magaert finished 84th as an individual.
On the men's side, BYU finished fourth behind Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and Colorado. Arizona's Lawi Lalanga was the top runner in 28:44.
"Finishing in the top four on the podium today is equivalent to the basketball team finishing in the final four," BYU men's coach Ed Eyestone said.
Southern Utah runner Cameron Levins ran fourth overall, while Oregon's Luke Puskedra, an Ogden native, ran sixth overall to claim All-America honors for the second year in a row.
BYU was led by Miles Batty, who took 14th, and Rex Shields, who finished 45th. Utah State's Brian McKenna finished 63rd overall.
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