Nov. 9, 2004

BOCA RATON, FL. - Last year it was Auburn, this year the Florida Atlantic University women's cross-country team travels to Tuscaloosa, AL, to participate in its second consecutive NCAA Regional. With a young squad that includes four freshmen, two sophomores and a junior, the Lady Owls will lean on the past experiences of Raynell Hagberg and Brittany Powers, last year's regional participants.

"This meet is going to be a great challenge for us because it is going to be our first 6k race of the season," said head coach Alex Smolka. "It is by far our biggest meet, as far as the competition, but our goal is to duplicate our performance from the conference championship and finish as high as possible in the region."

All-Conference honoree Raynell Hagberg will be counted on to improve on last year's performance. The junior from Stuart, FL, finished 73rd out of 176 runners, completing the course in 22:49, while Powers (Hollywood, FL) finished 106th with a time of 23:43.

Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team honoree Trisha Doyle, Allison and Ashley Wilcox, Jennifer Schwan and Linn Modin will all be running in their first NCAA Regional.

FAU finished a program record second at the A-Sun Championship on Saturday, October 31.

The top-two teams in the race advance to the NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, IN