Bengals Defeat Montana State, Northern Colorado at NCAA Regional

Nov. 14, 2009

Albuquerque, N.M. - Sophomore Bradi Hutchison posted a 43rd-place finish Saturday at the NCAA Mountain Regional running the 6K course in a time of 22:19.2. The Bengals finished 15th as a team with 392 points, just 11 points behind 14th-place Utah State.

Junior Erica Wendt finished second for ISU and 47th overall with a time of 22:21.5. Senior Gemma Maini took 71st place posting a time of 22:49.2. Senior Kerynn Davis and freshman Chloe Palakovich rounded out the top five. Davis finished 114th with a time of 23:53.6 while Palakovich took 117th place running the course in a time of 24:06.1.

"On the women's side, the first three runners did pretty well and Bradi Hutchison and Erica Wendt had excellent races," ISU Head Coach Brian Janssen said. "Gemma Maini was still struggling with an injury and probably didn't finish her career the way she had hoped. Cydney Jacobsen, another runner that has been struggling with the flu, had to put into the ambulance after collapsing so the added distance didn't help those fighting the flu and created more issues for us. Overall I thought they all ran hard. The women were just a few points away from moving up three or more places. It was a solid effort both mentally and physically."

Colorado took the women's title with a team score of 48 earning a NCAA Championship berth. Texas Tech finished second with a score of 53 also earning a trip to Terre Haute, Ind. Colorado's Jenny Barringer won the event posting a time of 20:29.0. Northern Arizona was the top Big Sky Conference finisher, taking seventh place with 176 points.

The Bengals finished 17th at last year's regional behind a 60th-place finish by Erica Wendt.