RESULTS
SAINT LEO, Florida – Celine Ritter placed fourth and Toni Moore was 18
th to help the Lee University women's cross country team post 297 points to finish eighth at the 2021 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at The Abbey Course. The team finish was the best in program history. Before today, the highest finish for the Lee women was 14
th in 2019.
Adams State claimed the team championship with 59 points and Grand Valley State finished second with 79 points.
"Our women had a great day," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "Celine gave herself a great opportunity to be in contention to win. Toni executed her race strategy perfectly gradually moving up inside the top 20. We have a big group of freshmen and sophomores who ran as our 3-4-5-6-7 today. They had not been in this type of environment before. You can't simulate a national championship in the regular season in anyway, I am really proud of the way they maintained composure. This was an amazing experience for them to carry forward into their next two to three years at Lee."
Ritter's fourth-place finish was the highest for any Lee athlete at the NCAA DII Championships. She covered the 6-kilometer course in 20:30.5. Hannah Becker of Grand Valley State was the individual champion with a time of 20:22.0.
Moore crossed the finish line at 21:11.3 for 18
th out of 250 runners. With their finishes, Ritter and Moore both earned All-America honors.
Danielle Horter posted a time of 22:12.8 to finish 100
th overall. Olivia McLain was 109
th (22:19.5) and Grace Adams was Lee's final scorer at 118
th (22:24.3).
Aria Hawkins and Lily Hare were the sixth and seventh, respectively, Lee runners to cross the finish line. Hawkins' time of 22:29.5 put her in 124
th, while Hare finished 132
nd after stopping the clock at 22:32.9.
"The last four years our women's team has made a major transformation from a top 25 team in Division II to being a top 15 team the last three years. Celine and Toni have led that charge. I am incredibly thankful for the impact they have made on our team and their leadership. We will miss them," concluded Morgan.
