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Brenau University

Brittany Aikens Races to the National Championships

November 15, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo - For the first time in school history, a cross country runner will represent the Golden Tigers at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships. Freshman Brittany Aikens (Braselton, GA) punched her golden ticket to the big event by finishing 7th at the SSAC Conference Meet, with a time of 19:22.73.

She had plenty to celebrate that day, as she was named a member to the 2011 SSAC All-Freshman Team, the SSAC All-Conference Team, and given a berth to the National Championships, as an individual qualifier.

The 56th Annual Men's and 32nd Annual Women's event will take place at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington, on November 19th. The men's 8K championship race will start at 10:30 a.m. PST, followed by the women's 5K run at 11:45 a.m.

The 32-team women's field features 22 conference/independent/unaffiliated group champions, one conference/independent/unaffiliated group runner-up and eight at-large selections. Alongside the teams that qualified, there will also be 105 individual qualifiers.

Within the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC), two teams secured berths to the cross country championships: Shorter University (SSAC Conference Champion) and Lee University (SSAC Conference runner-up).

There were also several ladies that were given the opportunity to represent their school, as well as their conference. Both Brenau and Loyola University had 1 runner qualify, while Spring Hill College will bring 2 runners, and Southern Wesleyan has qualified with 3.

"Brittany Aikens is an amazing athlete. When the starting gun goes off, she turns in to a very competitive tiger and nothing can stop her from giving everything in a race. Throughout the season she has steadily improved and along the way she has continued to set personal bests and then surpass them at her next meet", Head Coach Susan McIntyre stated. "She has done a tremendous job thus far, of representing Brenau, and I am confident that she will do a great job at the NAIA National Championships!"