SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Behind the brilliant performance of individual champion Nia Clatworthy, the Lamar Cardinals claimed their first Southland Women's Cross Country Championship since 2014 as they held off New Orleans.
It was flip of the script from one year ago when New Orleans took the title and Lamar placed second, as the Cardinals finished with 45 points to New Orleans' 49.
Clatworthy placed first with a time of 21:12.9, pulling away from the group on the second loop to take home Southland Runner of the Year. Cara Inch earned a fifth place finish at 21:56.8, while Annabel Hobday placed eighth at 22:13.1. Rounding out the scoring for the Cardinals was Ashton Rainey in 13th (22:33.5) and Mykayla Mims in 18th (22:44.4).
Emma Bourg of New Orleans was named the Southland Freshman of the Year after leading the first-year pack with a time of 22:20.7 and a 10th place finish.
New Orleans finished runner-up behind Maruping Tshwanelo's fourth-place performance at 21:42.1, while Alexandria Weir was sixth at 21:59.1. McNeese finsihed third with 77 points, A&M-Corpus Christi was fourth with 114 points, and HCU was fifth with 122 points thanks to Arlette Concepcion's runner-up finish at 21:15.7. UIW's Ashlyn Royal was third with a time of 21:19.2.
The all-conference first team is made up of Clatworthy, Concepcion, Royal, Tshwanelo, and Hobday.
The all-conference second team consists of Weir, Marta Pascoa of McNeese, Hobday, Destiny Quintanilla of HCU, and Bourg.
TEAM STANDINGS – FULL RESULTS
| Pl |
School |
Pts |
| 1 |
Lamar |
45 |
| 2 |
New Orleans |
49 |
| 3 |
McNeese |
77 |
| 4 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
114 |
| 5 |
HCU |
122 |
| 6 |
UIW |
139 |
| 7 |
Nicholls |
181 |
| 8 |
Texas A&M-Commerce |
184 |
| 9 |
Northwestern State |
260 |
| 10 |
Southeastern |
265 |