Lizarribar Prepares for NCAA Championship
7/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Kent State junior Alex Lizarribar looks to make Kent State history Monday
(Nov. 23) when she participates in the 2009 NCAA Cross Country
Championships Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.
After finishing ninth overall at the Great Lakes Cross Country
Regional last Sat. (Nov. 14), Lizarribar was notified on Sunday of
her at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. She joined Denise Bobby
in 1990 as the only KSU woman in school history to qualify for the
championship meet. Shirley Russell also qualified for a postseason
cross country championship in 1978, when KSU was a part of the
Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
All the action from the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center is set
to begin at 12:58 p.m. on Monday. Watch every moment of the men's
and women's NCAA Championships live on Versus beginning at
noon.
Last Time Out
The Kent State men and women cross country teams wrapped up the
2009 season last Sat. (Nov. 14) at the Great Lakes Regional. The
Kent State men finished 6th, its highest finish since 1975, while
the women finished 15th.
Senior Aiman Scullion was the
top-finisher for the Kent State men for the third-consecutive year
at the regional meet. He finished the 10,000 meter course in
31:25.53 to finish 12th and was named to the All-Great Lakes Region
team.
Joining Scullion on the all-region team was
junior Scott Hilditch, who finished the race
in 31:35.32 in 21st place. Scullion and Hilditch were the third and
fourth Kent State runner to do so and the first since Karoly Bozan
in 1999.
On the women's side, junior Alex Lizarribar led Kent State and finished ninth overall
(21:30.60) to become only the fifth KSU woman to be named to the
Great Lakes All-Region team. The ninth-place was also tied for the
best finish in the regional meet with Denise Bobby in 1990.
Lizarribar Season Rewind
After sitting out the first race of the season at the Tommy Evans
Invite (Sept. 5), Lizarribar has turned in one of the most
successful seasons in Kent State cross country history. In five
races this season, she has finished in the top-10 in every race and
has three runner-up finishes and one meet championship.
She began the season Sept. 19 at the prestigious Iona Meet of
Champions. In a very competitive nationally-known race, she
finished second with a time of 22:52.10. She went on to win the
only Mid-American Conference Runner of the Week honor for the Kent
State women this season.
A week later in a preview of the conference championship course at
the Ohio Invitational, she finished second again in the
rain-shortened 3k race. She crossed the line in 10:39.17 seconds,
just 2.5 seconds behind race-winner Maura Bulgrin of Dayton.
Third time was a charm for Lizarribar as she claimed her first
meet championship at the Falcon Invite (Nov. 17) in leading the
Kent State women to a second-place team finish. She finished the 6k
course in 21:47.5, more than eight seconds faster than her nearest
competitor.
At the MAC Championships Oct. 31 in Athens, Ohio, Lizarribar led
the Kent State women to a fifth-place finish, crossing the finish
line in 22:30.8. It was the first time since 2005 a KSU runner was
named to the First Team All-MAC. She also tied Denise Bobby in 1990
for the best individual KSU finish.
