Women's Cross Country has best ever finish

The Florida women's cross country team earned the best NCAA Championship finish in school history, placing 11th at the 2007 NCAA Championships held Monday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind.

Four of the Gators' top five finishers placed in the top 100 for team scoring individually to help earn the school-record finish.

The Gators were the top finishing SEC team at the national championship. Arkansas finished two spots behind them in 13th and Georgia was 22nd.The Stanford women won their third consecutive team title with 145 points. Sally Kipyego from Texas Tech won her second individual title, finishing the 6K race in 19:30.9.

Junior Jacy Kruzel led the Gators with a 60th place finish and a 6K time of 21:15.8. Her finish was the best individual finish by a Gator in the NCAA Championship since Kris Jost finished 43rd in 1999.

"This team just has a great chemistry," UF coach Jeff Pigg said. "These women are not only good athletes, they are great people. Ali Crabb and Alison Babb are both walk ons and we would not be here today without them. Babb didn't run until SECs and she has just continued to get better. She is good because she wants to be. She has the best attitude and desire. Lindsay is so unselfish. She was disappointed with her individual performance until she saw how high we placed as a team. Her goal this year has simply been for the team to do well. Jacy is a strong Florida kid, who just keeps getting better. Rebecca Lowe came here and added depth and talent to this team. I just cannot say enough about these athletes, how hard they work and how proud of them I am.''