KENOSHA, Wis. - No. 2 ranked Azusa Pacific (Calif.) placed three runners in the Top 10 to capture its first NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championship knocking off top-ranked Cedarville.
The Cougars scored 66 points and defeated the Lady Jackets by 31 points. Cedarville, who totaled 97 points, finished second for the third straight season.
California State-San Marcos placed one runner in the Top 10 and scored 154 point to finish third while Malone and Milligan (Tenn.) tied for fourth with 160 points each.
Wayland Baptist, 181 points; Indiana Tech, 223 points; Concordia (Calif.), 265 points; College of Idaho, 300 points; and Simon Fraser (B.C.), 301 points, rounded out the Top 10. Shawnee State was 13th in the 32-team field with 358 points.
The AMC had seven All-Americans (top 30 finishers) led by Cedarville with four. Representing the Lady Jackets were Elisabeth Pyles (20th), Lydia Wong (22nd), Brittany Simpson (24th), and Nicole Santos (30th). Shawnee State’s Lisa Davies was the top finisher from the AMC at 17th overall. The other two All-Americans were Malone’s Kalie Hauenstein (28th) and Kathryn Bagley (29th).
Alissa McKaig of Indiana Tech captured the individual title after crossing the finish line in 16:42 for the 5,000 meters. She set a new meet record breaking the old mark of 16:43 set by Emile Mondor of Simon Fraser (B.C.) in 2002.
Jacky Kimwambok of Azusa Pacific (Calif.) finished second for the second consecutive season with a time of 17:02.1. Justyan Mudy (17:06.1) of Shorter (Ga.) placed third while Jaime Canterbury (17:09.8) of Azusa Pacific (Calif.) finished fourth and Purity Biwott (17:20.7) of Wayland Baptist rounded out the top-five.
APU head coach Preston Grey was named the 2008 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
[TEAM RESULTS]
[INDIVIDUAL RESULTS]