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Terre Haute, Ind. - Seniors Lucy van Dalen and Holly van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand) took sixth and seventh, respectively, as the women's team finished an impressive seventh at the 2010 NCAA women's cross country national championships. By finishing among the top-40 individually, the twins are first-time All-Americans in cross country.
"We felt like there were 10 to 12 girls who could win it," head coach Andy Ronan said. To have two runners from one team in the top 10 is fantastic. As for the team aspect, the girls just kept plugging away. 10 years ago we were 20th in the region, and today we're seventh in the nation. I'm overjoyed."
"The amount of support out there was just crazy. There's not one part of the course that wasn't packed with supporters," Lucy said. "It's a bonus for us [Lucy and Holly] to do well today. It's always exciting to do well individually, but when we both do well it's even more exciting because we can enjoy it together. We feel so excited about this."
Lucy and Holly led the women's team to an impressive seventh-place finish, crossing ahead of the likes of national powers Providence, Syracuse and Oregon.
"We prepared like any other race," Holly said. "We just tried to chill out before the race. The atmosphere is so amazing. As for the wind, everyone was dealing with it so you just gotta get tough and get through it."
Lucy finished in a time of 20:19.2, followed by Holly at 20:19.3. Also finishing in the top 75 were sophomore Annie Keown (Auckland, New Zealand), who took 70th (20:19.1) and junior Hayley Green (Wellington, New Zealand) (72nd - 21:19.8).
Also competing for the Seawolves on Monday were freshman Olivia Burne (Palmerston North, New Zealand), junior Kristal Conklin (Middletown, N.Y.) and senior Carolina Cortes (Woodmere, N.Y.)
