Stanford and BYU Claim 2002 NCAA Team Titles

Jorge Torres claimed his first individual national title for Colorad (CUbuffs.com)
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- North Carolina\'s Shalane Flanagan and Colorado\'s Jorge Torres won individual titles Monday at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Stanford placed four runners in the top 10 and defeated Wisconsin 47-107 for the men\'s team title. Brigham Young\'s women repeated as team champions, outdistancing Stanford 85-113.

Flanagan, a junior from Marblehead, Mass., returned to the Indiana State campus where her mother, Cheryl Treworgy, became a national collegiate champion and set a marathon world record in 1971.

\"She and a bunch of other women have made it easier for us today to come back and run,\" Flanagan said. \"We should really appreciate what those in front of us have done.\"

Torres, son of a Mexican-born Chicago jeweler, became just the second American to win the men\'s race in a decade. The other was Adam Goucher, also of Colorado, in 1998.

Torres had the support not only of cheering family members from his hometown of Wheeling, Ill., but from his twin brother, Ed, who finished 10th for Colorado.

\"I had the strength and courage to go out and do it,\" Jorge Torres said. \"I told myself no one was going to take it away from me.\"

Torres covered the 10,000-meter course in 29 minutes, 4.7 seconds. Arkansas\' Alistair Cragg, a South African, was the only runner who could stay with him and finished second in 29:06.0.

Stanford\'s Grant Robison was third in 29:36.9. Butler\'s Mark Tucker, an Australian, was fourth in 29:37.5.

Two Kenyans, defending champion Boaz Cheboiywo of Eastern Michigan and 1999 winner David Kimani of Alabama, fell off the pace near the 7-kilometer mark and faded at the finish. Cheboiywo was seventh and Kimani 11th.

Michaela Mannova led BYU to the NCAA women's team title at Indiana State (Jaren Wilkey)
Besides Robison, Stanford\'s front pack included Louis Luchini (fifth), Donald Sage (sixth) and Ian Dobson (ninth). The fifth scoring runner was Adam Tenforde in 29th.

In men\'s standings, Eastern Michigan finished third, defending champ Colorado fourth and Oregon fifth. Arkansas, the No. 2-ranked team and winner of 11 championships since 1984, was sixth.

In the women\'s race, Flanagan took the lead past the mile mark and built an insurmountable lead. She covered the 6,000 meters in 19:36.0.

One of Flanagan\'s former Massachusetts high school rivals, Kate O\'Neill of Yale, was second in 19:45.9. Alicia Craig and NCAA 5,000-meter track champ Lauren Fleshman, both of Stanford, were third and fourth.

Michaela Manova led BYU in fifth. Two freshmen, Molly Huddle of Notre Dame and Kassie Anderson of BYU, were sixth and seventh. O\'Neill\'s twin, Laura, was 13th for Yale.

Notre Dame was third for its best women\'s finish ever, followed by Big East rival Georgetown. Colorado was fifth.

Complete Results