Sophomore Melissa Shaw of Morrow

finished 54th with a personal best time of 24:20, the 18th fastest time

all-time, followed by Penny Tinker in 59th with a time of 24:50, the 21st

fastest time in school history.

Freshman Tanika Smith rounded

out the scoring for Clayton State, placing 62nd with a personal best time

of 24:55, the 25th fastest in school history. Junior Stephanie Gilbert

of Jonesboro finished 79th with a time of 25:58, followed by junior Brittany

Precht of Smyrna in the 95th spot with a personal best time of 27:26.

The Lakers placed eighth for

the second straight season in the region meet, but at the same time and

a good indication of how the region has gotten stronger over the last

couple of years, Saturday's overall team time was the fastest in

school history. The top five Lakers averaged a time of 24:08, besting

the 2001 team time at the NCAA Regionals of 24:26 by 16 seconds per runner.

North Florida won with a meet

low 76 points, followed in a close second by the University of Tampa with

81 points. The University of Alabama-Huntsville finished third with 93

points, followed by Harding in fourth with 112 points and Kennesaw State

rounding out the top five with 117 points. The four teams in the meet

will advance to nationals.

The men's squad, entering

the race ranked seventh in the NCAA South Regional poll, picked up one

spot on the field, despite having its top runner, senior Tony Juarez,

suffer an injury midway through the race. In fact, the Lakers were only

three points from fifth place and 17 points out of fourth.

Sophomore Njoroge Ngaruiya

of Kenya had the top finish for the Lakers in the 10K event, placing 28th

with a collegiate best time of 33:46. The time was the fifth best in Clayton

State history. Suffering a shin injury and in obvious pain for more than

half the race, Juarez was still able to gut out the second best finish

for the Lakers, placing 29th with a time of 33:52, which ranked seventh

all-time.

Junior Adil Berkhedle placed

32nd in the race with a time of 34:00, the ninth fastest all-time, followed

the 13th fastest in Clayton State history. Senior Stephen Hughes of Hampton

rounded out the scoring for Clayton State in 52nd with a personal best

time of 35:03, followed by freshman Tim McCullough in 81st with a time

of 36:40.

Even with Juarez not up to

full speed, the Lakers still were able to post the fastest overall 10K

team time in school history. The top five times on the squad averaged

34:13, besting last year's team average in the South Region of 34:26 by

13 seconds per runner.

Harding University, out of

the Gulf South Conference, won with a meet-low 19 points, followed by

Peach Belt Conference rival Kennesaw State University with 47 points.

Both Harding and Kennesaw State will advance to the NCAA Championships

in Raleigh, N.C. The State University of West Georgia placed third with

120 points, followed by the University of Tampa in fourth with 162 points

and the University of West Florida in fifth with 176 points.

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