North Georgia women's cross country clinch first NCAA championship appearance

MONTEVALLO, Ala. -- The University of North Georgia women's cross country team made school history on Saturday as they punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II National Championship meet with a runner-up finish at the Southeast Regional. The NCAA National Championship appearance will be the program's first-ever.<br /> <br /> North Georgia, ranked third in Nov. 11 USTFCCCA Southeast region poll, tallied 90 points to finish 30 points behind fellow Peach Belt Conference member Montevallo and a single point ahead of third-place Wingate. All three schools will advance to the National Championship. <br /> <br /> Brittany Truitt led the way with an eighth-place finish after crossing the line in 23:02. Emily Beusse ran her best race of the year, narrowly missing a top-10 finish with a time of 23:07 and finishing 11th out of 183 runners. <br /> <br /> Ellie Tanner finished in 23:23 (17th) while Maggie Tindol (23:37, 25th) and Alyssa Sale (24:16, 39th) rounded out the team scores for North Georgia.<br /> <br /> Catie Byrd of Queens (N.C.) won the event with a time of 21:56.<br /> <br /> The Nighthawks will next compete in the NCAA Division II National Championship on Saturday, Dec. 6 at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky. during the Division II Festival, hosted by the Louisville Sports Commission and Bellarmine University.