Henderson Earns All-Region, Women 12th at Region

Friday, November 13

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

10:00 AM

Chattanooga

NCAA

NCAA South Region Championship Central Men's Results Women's Results

11/13/2015 2:11:00 PM | Cross Country & Track & Field

By: Anne Wehunt

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Teghan Henderson (Pickering, Ontario) finished 13^th overall and led the women's team to a 12^th place finish in the NCAA South Region Championships Friday morning at the Harry Pritchett Race Park.

"We weren't ranked all year in the Top 20 of the region," UTC head coach Bill Gautier said. "We finished 12^th and were just three points out of 11^th. I had hoped to be eighth or ninth, but I am extremely satisfied."

Henderson covered the 6-kilometer course in a time of 20:37.3. She was eighth after 2000 meters but fell back to 14^th at the 4K mark. She would gain one spot over the final 2-kilometers. Sophomore Emily Drouin (Verona, Ontario) placed 65^th overall with a time of 21:47.5.

"Teghan missed a lot of running the last year-and-a-half," Gautier said of his All-American. "I held her back this fall. I take credit for getting her healthy, but that also allowed her to not reach regionals.

"Emily Drouin missed a couple of meets this year and did well at the conference, but it all finally caught up to her."

Sophomore Maddison Melchionna (Afton, Tenn.) finished 89^th in a time of 22:18.1 out of 208 runners with sophomore Anna Kate Chance (Columbia, Tenn.) placing 121^st at 22:47.7. Senior Rebecca Greenwall (Bogart, Ga.) rounded out the scoring for the Mocs placing 140^th with a time of 23:07.4.

"That shows the depth and strength of our team," Gautier said. "Rebecca went out on a good note. She has been instrumental to this program and ran strong today. I'm proud of her accomplishments and she has been instrumental to this program.

"I credit her for being a mentor and we will miss her. She has such a positive attitude and a profound effect on this team."

Greenwall, a nursing student, just wrapped up her clinicals and will be headed to Asheville, N.C., to work in a trauma unit.

Junior Paul Stuart (Brentwood, Tenn.) led the Mocs in the men's 10K race with a time of 32:45.5 followed by freshman John Payne (Portland, Tenn.) in just his third race of the year with a time of 33:37.9. Freshmen Mark Britt (Lebanon, Tenn. - 34:36.0) and Richard Guiry (Nashville, Tenn. - 34:49.9) along with junior Austin Ethridge (Signal Mountain, Tenn. - 35:17.4) rounded out the scoring runners for the Mocs.

"This was good at gaining experience for a very young team," Gautier said. "It's been a long year and they are all young.

"Paul has been a great role model for these guys, he's the ultimate leader. He probably tried to help too much today and it cost him a few places in the race. I'm proud that they represent our team and university."

The women were three points behind South Alabama and finished ahead of Southern Miss (14), Georgia Tech (17), Tennessee (19), Memphis (22) and fellow Southern Conference team Mercer (29). Vanderbilt took first with 65 points with Mississippi State second with 78 points and host Alabama was third with 135 points.

On the men's side, the Mocs topped Memphis is the final standings and Mercer failed to score with just four runners after its fifth suffered an injury. Florida State wrapped up the title with 58 points, edging Mississippi with 62 points. Florida took third followed by Georgia and Auburn.