Girard set for NCAA Cross Country Championships in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wisc. -- After locking down a sixth-place overall finish at the South Central Regional meet one week ago, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi senior Allyson Girard prepares for her opportunity at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, set for the morning of Saturday, Nov. 17 at the University of Wisconsin's Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. Not including the weather -- predicted high of 33, low of 15 on Saturday with a chance for snowfall -- Girard will face innumerous obstacles at the meet, battling a field composed of 31 seven-woman teams and 37 individual qualifiers from across NCAA's nine regions.

As a rule, the NCAA grants automatic bids to all members of the top two teams from every region plus the four best individual finishes not associated with either the first or second place squads. At the South Central Regional, the top four individual runners all hailed from the meet's first-place program -- nationally-ranked No. 5 Arkansas -- while SMU's Hannah Miller earned the first automatic individual bid with her fifth-place finish and Girard captured the second at sixth.

At Saturday's NCAA Championships, the women's 6,000m race kicks off competition at 10:45 a.m. while the men's 10,000m follows an hour later at 11:45 a.m., both spanning the Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.

Girard has performed exceptionally well during her final year with the Islanders, earning her first-ever collegiate individual victory (McNeese Cowboy Stampede, Sept. 29), a Southland Conference individual and team championship (Southland Conference Championships, Oct. 26) and a qualifying individual bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships (South Central Regional, Nov. 9).

For more information on Islanders Cross Country, follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersTFXC), Instagram (@IslandersTFXC) and like their Facebook page (Islanders Track & Field/Cross Country).