(Portions of this story courtesy of Trinity
University)
HANOVER, Ind. - Trinity University finished in
20th place at the 2013 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship
contested Saturday morning. Results
Trinity scored 486 points in the 6k race at L.S. Ayres Complex at Hanover College. A total of 32 teams were competing, and Johns Hopkins emerged as the national champion, with 85 points.
Maddie Murphy had the best finish for the Tigers, coming in at the No. 45 slot. Murphy clocked in with a time of 22:08.3. The individual field consisted of 280 runners.
Rosemary Steup placed 101st (22:38.7), Vanessa Moreno
(22:47.5) was 128th, and Jackie Newell (23:09.4) came in at No.
174. Michelle Oberndorf (23:22.8) finished at No. 202, Nicola Hill
(23:29.5) was 211th, and Autumn Kervella (24:11.7) placed 260th.
The individual champion was Chelsea Johnson of St. Scholastica,
with a time of 21:11.7.
Southwestern University's Lilly Duarte, racing as an invidual,
placed 246th, with a finishing time of 23:56.6.
Trinity is led by second-year Head Coach Derick Lawrence, and
qualified for the national meet by winning the NCAA South/Southeast
Regional for the second year in a row. The Tigers brought home
their fourth regional title, after an outstanding performance at
Newport News, Virginia. Lawrence was honored as the NCAA
South/Southeast Women's Cross Country Regional Coach of the Year on
Friday.
The Tigers scored 36 points at regionals, led by Murphy's individual win in a time of 21:33.89. She was also the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference individual champion this season, and earned both SCAC and NCAA South/Southeast Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year honors.
A total of seven Tiger runners placed in the top 35 at regionals to earn All-Region honors, including Murphy and runner-up Vanessa Moreno (21:59.04).
Earlier this month, both Tiger teams captured the Southern Collegiate Athletic Cross Country Championships, for the second straight year. The meet was held at Shreveport, Louisiana. Trinity’s women once again registered a perfect score of 15 in the 6k race, as Tiger runners finished in first though fifth place.
In addition to Murphy's individual title - a feat she also accomplished in 2011 - Moreno was again the runner-up at the conference meet this season. Moreno won the 2012 individual championship at the SCAC Championships.
Coach Lawrence was elected the SCAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, for the second straight time.
The Tiger women finished 12th at the 2012 NCAA Championships, held at Terre Haute, Indiana. It marked the second-best finish in school history, only surpassed by the 2008 which placed sixth.
