WVU’s 10,000 meters maniac finished fourth at the NCAA championships Wednesday … and was 65 seconds better than her first-place finish in the Eastern Regional. Nothing wrong with that at all, especially when you consider she zoomed up six places in the final five laps.

Her All-American finish officially qualifies WVU for the USTFCCA Division I women’s program of the year award. The Mountaineers were No. 4 in the Terry Crawford standings entering the meet and still have three more All-American opportunities. Karly Hamric and Keri Bland are in a 1,500 semifinal at 7:45 p.m. tonight. If they qualify the final is at 1:18 p.m. Saturday. Marie-Louise Asselin’s 5,000 race is at 9:40 p.m. Friday. Top-eight finishes put the Mountaineers higher up in the standings.

“It’s a big goal of ours,” WVU Coach Sean Cleary said. “It’s about the duration of the year and one of our goals was to be in the top 10 for the entire year,” Cleary said. “If the girls do what they can do and we have some good results, combine that with those other two and we’re maybe the second- or third-best in the country.”