Another year, another successful season for the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country programs.
The Women scored 21 points in the Atlantic Sun Championships to secure their fourth consecutive conference title. Madi Talbert, Paige Stoner, and Dani Walker swept the top three spots, taking first, second and third respectively. All three runners, along with Sally Larson who finished sixth overall, earned spots on the A-Sun All-Conference First Team. Stoner was also named A-Sun Freshman of the Year.
Barbara Lee Ball, Kayla Montgomery and Minna Fields took spots on the All-Conference Second Team. Ball and Montgomery finished ninth and 13th in the A-Sun Championship.
The Men’s team also had a stand-out day in route to winning their second A-Sun Championship in a row. Juan Gonzalez, Daniel Gardner and Christian Freeman took third, fourth and fifth place in the competition. All three also placed on the A-Sun All-Conference First Team.
The Bisons fourth and fifth runners, junior Jared Wingerter and sophomore Jared Daedler, both set personal records in route to finshing ninth and 15th overall. Wingerter earned a spot on the All-Conference Second Team.
“Jared Wingadner had a great race,” head coach Benton Reed said. “He passed two Northern Kentucky guys in the end with an awesome finish. I knew Jared Dadeler was going to have a good race because he just kept on moving up throughout the race and by the end he was where he needed to be and it really made the difference for the team. Without him, we wouldn’t have won.”
The Men’s team had made it a goal all season to win Conference again, while the women’s squad is focusing on the Regional meet. The Women’s team will be facing competition from Florida State, Vanderbilt and Alabama in pursuit of qualifying for Nationals.
With all of this hardware coming home, fans are asking themselves what the prospect for next year looks like. The athletes are optimistic for the future of the team.
“The team is young. A bunch of other Freshmen and Sophomores are running really well so, it’s definitely looking good,” Stoner said.
“We have a really young team, from our top nine no one is graduating,” Freeman said. “Next year we are hoping to repeat as conference champions again, and then to just destroy Regionals. I think we have a pretty legit chance of making it to nationals next year, if everyone stays healthy because we are returning everybody.”
Both teams will be back in action at the Regional meet in Tallahassee on Nov. 14.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics