Sport in world

Whalen finishes 71st at NCAA Midwest Regional

December 11, 2007 on 8:20 pm | In Athletics |

PEORIA, Ill.- Senior Beth Whalen finished her career at Western Illinois by running the second fastest women’s 6K in school history and finishing 71st at the NCAA Midwest Regional hosted by Bradley University at Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Ill.

Whalen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) finished the race in 71st place with a time of 21:58, five seconds behind her school record of 21:53 set at the Bradley Classic, also held at the Newman Golf Course.

“It’s great to see Beth run a race like that today,” said Western Illinois head coach Matt Morris. “You can’t replace someone like Beth Whalen from both a running standpoint and a personality standpoint. She’s a hard-worker, great person, and you know when she puts on that Western Illinois uniform, she’s going to give you all that she’s got.”

Freshman Carianna Cottone (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community West) ran a personal best with a time of 23:09, crossing the finish line in 139th place.

“Carianna had a solid performance today,” stated Morris. “We have a lot of young, solid runners in the program and Carianna is an example of that.”

Also running were freshman Brooke Ashcraft (East Moline/United Township) who finished with a time of 23:52, crossing the finish line in 157th place. Senior Mary Scott (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) finished 162nd with a time of 24:03.

“Mary running one of her better times in her career in her last race was a real high note of the day,” Morris said. “It was a good day overall and the four girls ran hard and gave everything they had.”

Originaly from Source