University of North Florida
Atlantic Sun Conference Championships
A-Sun Champions! Women’s Cross Country Claims First A-Sun Championship
10/30/2010 12:57:12 PM | Women's Cross Country
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Behind four of five Osprey runners placing in the top 12, the University of North Florida women's cross country team claimed its first Atlantic Sun Conference title in program history at the A-Sun Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at Milliken Research Park.
“The ladies, this entire year, have been phenomenal,” head coach Mark VanAlstyne said. “It's rare that you get an entire team where every individual is dedicated, focused and committed to the team like these ladies are. Lipscomb really pushed us early, but the ladies stayed poised. The score looks like we won easily, but it looked closer to me out on the course.”
Sophomore Shelby Kittrell once again paced the Ospreys with a second-place finish, clocking a career-best time of 17:24.18 to earn her second consecutive First-Team All-A-Sun cross country accolade. Kittrell, turning in the highest finish ever for an Osprey runner, finished just under two seconds behind champion Mackenzie Howe of Kennesaw State (17:22.78).
“On the course, Shelby is absolutely a leader for us,” VanAlstyne said. “There are several leaders on this team though. Nothing this team does is about any individual. Shelby's been great for the team, of course, because we're always going to have that low number up front. This time around it was about the team though.”
Following Kittrell and also earning First-Team All-A-Sun honors was sophomore Ecaterina Gheorghiu in seventh with a personal-best time of 17:58.96. Junior Erin Nixon and sophomore Meggie Emons garnered Second-Team All-A-Sun honors, finishing 10th and 12th with times of 18:01.90 and 18:04.02, respectively – Emons' time is a lifetime-best.
“As far as the tactics, we knew there were two very good kickers in contention for the individual title,” VanAlstyne recalled. “Shelby and Mackenzie Howe are both front runners so we knew what the race would be like, and made sure the pace stayed high the whole way to put the kickers in a battle.”
The four A-Sun honors ties the most in program history for North Florida. The 2006 squad also had four women garner the accolades, though two were on the All-Freshman team.
Rounding out the top five student-athletes for North Florida was junior Kayla Conrad, clocking a personal-best time of 18:37.28 to finish 24th.
In the team standings, North Florida tallied 55 points to claim the title and was followed by Lipscomb in second with 73 points. Jacksonville (96), USC Upstate (108) and Belmont (110) rounded out the top five, respectively.
Up next, North Florida will have a weekend off to continue training before returning to action on Nov. 13 at the NCAA South Region Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
Click here for the Kittrell/VanAlstyne post race interview.
Click here for the women's race highlights.
Click here for the award's presentation.
|
North Florida Women's Results |
||
|
Place |
Name |
Time |
|
2 |
17:24.18 |
|
|
7 |
17:58.96 |
|
|
10 |
18:01.40 |
|
|
12 |
18:04.02 |
|
|
24 |
18:37.28 |
|
|
47 |
19:25.54 |
|
|
50 |
19:30.62 |
|
|
74 |
20:51.97 |
|
|
Individual Champion |
|||
|
Place |
Name |
School |
Time |
|
1 |
Mackenzie Howe |
Kennesaw State |
17:22.78 |
|
Team Standings |
||
|
Place |
Team |
Points |
|
1 |
North Florida |
55 |
|
2 |
Lipscomb |
73 |
|
3 |
Jacksonville |
96 |
|
4 |
USC Upstate |
108 |
|
5 |
Belmont |
110 |
|
6 |
Florida Gulf Coast |
158 |
|
7 |
Mercer |
172 |
|
8 |
Campbell |
174 |
|
9 |
Kennesaw State |
217 |
|
10 |
East Tennessee State |
261 |
|
11 |
Stetson |
314 |
