Southern States Athletic Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. ... Berry's Nicole Degner was named an Academic All-American by the NAIA National Committee on Friday night (Nov. 17). However, the Berry senior was not content with just one All-American award. The native of Peachtree City, Ga. went out and claimed athletic All-American honors also, by finishing 14th at the NAIA National Championship meet. Her standout performance helped propel the SSAC and Region XIII Champion Vikings to a No. 22 finish in the National Championship meet.

 

In total Berry had three All-Americans in cross country. Sarah Ann King and Katie Landry also earned Academic All-American honors. At the pre-meet banquet Berry head coach Paul Deaton was presented with the Region XIII Coach of the Year Award for both men's and women's cross country after he guided his teams to a sweep of the SSAC and Region XIII cross country titles.

Degner finished in a time of 18:24 to finish 14th against a  field that featured the 268 best runners in the entire NAIA with the top 30 earning All-American status. The time was not Degner's fastest of the season, but most runners at the meet ran slower times as a result of the soggy course conditions.

 

For Degner the meet showcased her progression after beginning collegiate cross country just last year as a fourth-year student at Berry. Degner finished 90th at last year's NAIA National Championship meet and wasn't even the top finisher on the Berry team. The race was also an improvement for the Vikings as a team after Berry finished 23rd at the 2005 National Championship Meet.

 

It was also a vendication of the team's efforts that the 22nd place finish put the Vikings, which finished the 2006 season unranked in the national polls, ahead of six teams that did feature in the final national ranking. That list included No. 15 California State-San Marcos, No. 16 Corban (Ore.), No. 22 Doane (Neb.) and No. 22 Wayland Baptist.

 

Degner led a group of three Berry athletes to achieve Academic All-American honors. King is a sophomore runner from Fairburn, Ga. she is not yet in Berry's top seven, but is continuing to improve and will be a factor for the Vikings in the future. Meanwhile, Landry is one of the Vikings top runners and was continuing to improve this year, before an injury to her leg ended her season prematurely. These athletes represent the outstanding commitment to Berry's continued committment both athletics and academic excellence.

 

The Vikings will look to take the momentum gained from this year's success in cross country and build upon it as they embark on the indoor track season and eventually the track season. The Vikings have had several runner qualify for the NAIA Track National Championships, including David Kawa in the 5,000 last year. The Vikings even had one NAIA National Indoor Champion, in Caio Suares who won the race-walk event in 2004.