RESULTS
LAKELAND, Fla. – The Lee University women's cross country team had six runners place among the first 20 to win their third consecutive NCAA Division II South Region Championship. The 6K race was held at Holloway Park.
The Lady Flames posted 48 points to finish 36 points ahead of runner-up Palm Beach Atlantic University (84). PBA and third-place University of Tampa (89 points) join Lee in earning the South Region's three automatic qualifications to the 2022 NCAA DII Championships.
"This was our best team performance of the year," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "Very great team running keeping the pack together the first 3K before opening it up over the final half. Each Lady Flame closed really hard the last 2K, something we have wanted to work on going into nationals."
Aria Hawkins was Lee's first runner to cross the finish line. She was second out of 119 runners overall with a time of 21:30.1. Johanna Wistokat of Christian Brothers University was the individual champion at 21:21.7.
Liza Kellerman was the fourth to complete the circuit at 21:39.7, while Lily Hare (22:00.7) gave Lee four runners in the top 10 with a 10th-place finish. Megan Adams and Olivia McLain were the final two scorers for the Lady Flames. Adams (22:03.3) was 13th and McLain (22:18.0) came in 19th.
"Aria and Liza did a great job staying in the lead pack throughout the race. I'm really happy for Lily and Megan. They had two huge breakthrough performances at a critical time," added Morgan.
Danielle Horter stopped the clock at 22:18.4 to claim 20th. Katie Krueger was the final Lee runner. She settled into 36th with a time of 22:49.3.
The Lady Flames will complete the season on December 2 at the NCAA DII Championships, which will be held at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, Washington.
