The Lipscomb women’s cross country team won their fifth conference title on Oct. 30 at the Atlantic Sun Championship tournament in Jacksonville, Flordia.
The men’s team also won their third conference title at the tournament.
“It was not our course; it was really different in Florida,” junior Juan Gonzalez said. “We knew this year would be a lot tougher and with harder competition. From the start we led the pack and just did what we do well.”
The Bisons captured point titles with a total of 22 for the men’s races and 19 for the women’s. North Florida placed second and Florida Gulf Coast placed third in both events.
Entering the championships, the women were ranked as the top seed in the A-Sun and third in the South Region. The men were ranked first in conference and seventh in the South Region.
“Given our past success, we were very confident going into conference,” Gonzalez said. “At the same time, we knew we had targets on our backs as not a lot of people were happy that we kept winning – which made them more hungry and motivated to beat us.”
The Lady Bisons were the first team in conference history to have all nine runners on All-Conference teams. They won by a margin of 54 points, a score that tied them for the most points accumulated.
Senior Madi Talbert won the individual championship race for the second year in a row, only the seventh time a Lipscomb women’s cross country runner has accomplished this feat.
Freshman Brooke Kingma became the third Lady Bison to win the Freshman of the Year award. She earned a First-Team All-Conference spot with a time of 17:29:22.
The men’s team dominated the tournament with six runners placing in the All-Conference team and two on the All-Freshman team. They scored a total of 22 points for their third A-Sun title.
Gonzalez and seniors Christian Freeman and Daniel Gardner earned their First-Team All-Conference nods for the third year in a row.
Freshman Robert Rupp earned a spot on both the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Freshman Team. Freshman Psalm Ocampo joined him on the All-Freshman team with a mark of 25:55:49.
“We treated this race like any other race, so we didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves,” Ocampo said. “We just needed to perform. I wasn’t that nervous coming into conference because of how much depth we have in the squad.”
Both Lipscomb cross country teams are preparing for Regionals held on Nov. 14 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“I am looking forward to Regionals, as it is our chance to make history for Lipscomb,” Gonzalez said. “We have won conference many times now, so regionals is all or nothing.
“There is no looking back and we really want to make Nationals. It is what we have been striving and working towards as a team.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics