RESULTS

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Lee University women's cross country team placed two runners in the top 50 as the Lady Flames placed ninth out of 34 teams Saturday morning at the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The 6K race was held at Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.

Grand Valley State was the team champion with 59 points. Adams State was second (86) and Colorado School of Mines placed third (121). The Lady Flames accumulated 284 points and finished one point behind Wingate in eighth.

The individual champion was Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State with a time of 19:30.1. Lee's top runner in the field of 264 was Liza Kellerman. She stopped the clock at 20:45.3 to claim 41^st. McKenna Cavanaugh was close behind at 20:47.1 (43^rd).

Danielle Horter crossed the finish line at 21:12.6 for 70^th. Aria Hawkins completed the circuit in 91^st with a time of 21:30.0. Katie Krueger was Lee's final scorer at 106^th (21:43.3).

Ashlyn Iliff was the Lee spacer. Her time of 21:58.6 was good for 136^th. Zoe Brickley dropped out following the 3000-meter mark.

The Lady Flames' season comes to an end, but not before claiming the program's seventh consecutive GSC Championship and fourth straight NCAA South Region Championship.
 

Coach Caleb Morgan's Thoughts:
"Just a really big day for our women. (We) came out her and got ninth. We felt like we didn't have the perfect day, but we had a lot of women really step up today."

"Liza Kellerman and McKenna Cavanaugh both went out there and had phenomenal days. We had a really big finish from Danielle Horter."

"I think the big thing for our women today was just spotting for each other. We know things aren't always going to be perfect on national championship day. It's a large field and that's just the way things go."

"I'm really happy for our seniors. I feel like they stepped up huge today. You could tell that it was their last race ever and they really put it all on the line and wanted to go out there and do well for the team."