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Jenny Koeppel

TERRE HAUTE, IN – The University at Buffalo’s Jenny Koeppel (Amherst, NY/Amherst) turned in an impressive showing at the NCAA Women’s Cross Country National Championships on Monday. Koeppel, a senior, completed the 6K course in 21:28.0 to place 56th overall among a field of 250 of the nation’s top cross country athletes. The meet was held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center and hosted by Indiana State University. Damp conditions greeted the runners as overnight and early morning rain yielded to partly cloudy skies as the race began.

Koeppel earned the opportunity to represent UB at the National Championships after qualifying with an at-large berth from the NCAA Northeast Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on November 13. She finished the regional race in 20:59.7, placing ninth among 230 runners and earning All-Northeast Region honors for the second consecutive season.

Aside from Koeppel, the Mid-American Conference individual champion, two other MAC runners competed after earning individual automatic qualifier spots from the Great Lakes Region. Ball State’s Jill Scully, who finished second to Koeppel at the MAC Championships on October 30, bested the UB runner in their final meeting, finishing 52nd in 21:21.5, six and a half seconds ahead of Koeppel. Akron’s Morgan Sulzener placed 199th in 22:57.9.

On the strength of three top 10 individual finishers, and five in the top 25, Colorado took the team title. The Buffaloes finished with 63 total points to easily outdistance second-place Duke’s 144. Providence was third with 164 while Notre Dame was fourth at 170 and defending champion Stanford was fifth at 175.

Providence’s Kim Smith, the NCAA runner-up last season and this season’s Northeast Region champion won the individual title in a blistering 20:08.5, nearly 18 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Renee Metevier of Colorado (20:26.4). Smith, who has previously won NCAA Championships in indoor track for the 3,000 and 5,000 meters as well as in outdoor track for the 5,000 meters during 2004, finishes the cross country season undefeated – taking first place in every race. She is also the first runner from the Providence women’s program, considered one of the East’s best, to win an individual national title.

Koeppel is the first UB woman and third Bulls runner in over 35 years to compete in the NCAA Division I Championship. Previously, Ed Fuchs ran in three championship races from 1968-70 in what was known as the NCAA's University Division, the forerunner of today's Division I classification. Jeremie Slick raced in the 2001 Championships in Greenville, SC, finishing 91st overall. UB had previously sent women's runners to the NCAA Division III Championships during the 1980s. In 1985, Margaret Gehring finished 15th overall to gain All-American status.