Scott Overall Places Ninth At NCAA Pre-National Meet

Oct. 14, 2006

Butler senior Scott Overall firmly established himself as one of the top individual cross country runners in the nation with a ninth place finish at the Brooks Pre-National Invitational hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Bulldogs placed 10th in a field of 36 teams in the men's Blue Race and 12th of 37 teams in the women's White Race.

Overall ran with the top pack and in the men's 8K race and narrowly missed a Top Five finish. He crossed the finish line in 23:53, just two seconds behind eighth-place finisher Billy Nelson of team champ No. 4 Colorado. Overall came in seven seconds behind fifth-place finisher Andrew Lemoncello of runner-up Florida State and 22 seconds behind individual champ Martin Fagan of Providence.

Alex Hains placed 34th for the Bulldogs in 24:15, while Justin Roeder came in 84th in 24:48. Vinny Ambrico finished 94th in 24:51 and Darren Gauson wound up 100th in 24:54 to round out Butler's scoring quintet. Richard Kay was 163rd in 25:19 and Kent Worries wound up 190th in 25:34.

Seven of the nine teams that placed ahead of the Bulldogs were ranked in the "Top 30" in the nation! Butler wound up beating No. 22 Ohio State, No. 24 Iowa State and No. 26 Dartmouth.

Ava Hutchinson paced Butler's women with a 32nd place finish in 20:55. Also breaking 21 minutes on the women's 6K course was Jenni Pereira, who finished 35th in 20:57. Claire Holme, running in her first pre-national race, came in 68th in 21:26, while Marbeth Shiell posted a 112th place finish in 21:50. Genni Gardner came in 121st in 21:58 to complete Butler's scoring unit. Kara Henry was 205th in 22:46 and Sarah Kemple finished 220th in 23:01.

No. 5 North Carolina State won the women's White Race, while No. 3 Michigan finished runner-up. Julia Lucas of North Carolina State captured the individual championship in 20:02. Nine of the 11 teams that placed ahead of Butler's women were ranked in the Top 30 in the nation. Butler finished ahead of No. 14 Washington, No. 15 Oklahoma State and No. 27 Villanova.

The men's and women's Blue and White races attracted 45 of the top 60 teams in the nation. A record 87 teams entered the women's competition, while 86 men's teams were entered in the meet held on the same course that will host the 2006 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship.