Months of preparation and hundreds of miles of running paid off for the Baylor women's cross country team when they tied for second in the NCAA Cross Country South Central regional Saturday morning.

The No. 18 Lady Bears team tied with No. 22 Rice University for second place with 61 total team points behind the first place finishers and No. 12 University of Arkansas, although Rice won the tiebreaker to earn the second automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships. The tiebreaker was decided by comparing the top five runners for Rice and Baylor.

Even though the Baylor women missed an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships, they are almost assured a berth for the NCAA Championships as an at-large participant.

The race, which featured 17 other schools, was held at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco.

"There were some tough conditions to race in today," Baylor women's cross country coach Todd Harbour said. "The wind was brutal, especially coming up to the finish line. Overall, I thought we had good performances though," he said.

Junior runner Erin Bedell won second place individually, finishing only six seconds behind the first place winner, Nicole Mericle of Rice. Nichole Jones and Danielle Bradley finished fifth and sixth, respectively, but Arkansas ultimately won the regional title by placing five of their runners in the top 20. Jessi Barnes and Jodi Hulett finished 21st and 28th making them the fourth and fifth runners for Baylor.

"We had some great performances from Erin, Nicole and Danielle," Harbour said. "All of our five runners have been in the top five at some point this season, so it is a good situation heading to the NCAA Championships," he said.

The Baylor men's cross country team finished 10th in the NCAA Regionals.

Jeff Sadler took the top spot for the men with a 58th overall finish. Brandon White and Michael Williams finished 60th and 68th, respectively.

"Jeff ran a good race, tough race, especially after being injured the past couple of weeks," Harbour said. "I thought our guys packed up and ran well. They did a good job. We are still really young and will improve for next season."

The NCAA is scheduled to announce at-large participants later this week for the NCAA Championships scheduled for Nov. 24 in Terre Haute, Ind.

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