On a cold, blustery, and near winter-like day in Ashland, Ohio, the University of Southern Indiana women's cross country team placed 14th in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships. This was fourth trip to the national championships for the Screaming Eagles, who were ranked 20th nationally.

In USI's previous appearances in the national meet, the Eagles placed 12th in 1997, eighth in 1998, and ninth in 1999.

USI was led by junior Jenny Farmer (Princeton, Indiana), who was 45th as an individual with a 6k time of 23:09.9. Sophomore Casey Schneider (New Salisbury, Indiana) followed Farmer, placing 65th with a time of 23:32.5.

"We got off to a terrible start in tough conditions," said USI Head Coach Mike Hillyard. "There was four inches of snow and they had to plow the course. This left a very narrow path and made it impossible to pass. Had we gotten off to a little better start, we could have finished as high as 10th."

In the men's race, junior Joey Byrne (Georgetown, Indiana) did not duplicate his race of a year ago, placing 100th. Byrne, 13th a year ago, ran the 10k race in a time of 33.37.2.

14. University of Southern Indiana Individual Results (23:47.5 118:57.3)
Place  Name             Time
45     Jenny Farmer     23:09.9
65     Casey Schneider  23:32.5
68     Heather Cooksey  23:33.1
117    Laura Helhowski  24:19.8
119    Cassie Bartelt   24:22.0
123    Sunny Hipple    24:26.8
140    Lydia Flora      24:40.0