Jackie Areson paced the Lady Vol cross country team for the second straight meet, leading Tennessee to a third-place finish at the Crimson Classic on Friday evening.

            Areson navigated the 5,000-meter trail at Alabama's Harry Pritchett Running Park in a personal-best 17 minutes, 42.20 seconds to snare a fourth-place result and help the Big Orange women accumulate 88 points. Finishing ahead of UT in the team standings were Alabama, with 43, and Auburn, with 75.  Georgia Tech (115) and Samford (137) rounded out the top five.

            After winning the Belmont-VU Opener two weekends ago, Areson led Tennessee to the finish line for just the second time in her career. She got help from junior Brittany Sheffey, who was right behind her in fifth place with a clocking of 17:44.14.  Senior Katie Van Horn ran her first cross country race in two years and gave Tennessee its third finisher in the top 10, taking ninth in 18:02.90.

            UT's only other runners were senior Michele Levy and sophomore Elizabeth Tiller.  For the second straight meet they contributed to the scoring cause, carding finishes of 30th (27th) in 19:06.30 and 46th (43) in 19:43.20, respectively.  For Tiller, a graduate of Tuscaloosa's American Christian Academy, the meet was her first opportunity as a Lady Vol to run in her hometown.

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