Nov. 17, 2008
Southwestern University Men's and Women's Cross Country team closed out the 2008 season at the South/Southeast Region Championships Saturday at Texas Lutheran University. The Pirates ran well finishing in 15th place on both the men's and women's side and numerous runners posted season and personal best times.
The women's team was lead by Junior Tamra Warner who finished 22nd overall with a time of 23:50.3 which earned her All-Region Honors at the meet. Seniors Kristin Lahaie and Kelly Parmet finished their careers strong with Lahaie finishing 52nd at a time of 24:53.9 and Parmet recording a season best time at 26:37.9. Freshman Lisa Morse set a personal best at a time of 27:36.3 and Sophomore Lili McEntire finished in a season best 29:05.2.
The men were able to put together the best team effort of the season by finishing within 31 seconds of each other. This is the first season in Men's Cross Country history and second time this season that all men runners finished under 29 minutes.
Senior Bejamin Sloan (28:10.4) edged out Sophomore Addison English (28:12.0) to lead the way for the Pirates. The Pirates ran extremely well with 4 earning personal best times. In addition to English's personal best time, Sophomore Allen Smith (28:18.4), Freshman Zach Freeland (28:32.4) and Sophomore Sebastian Winkler (28:41.4) all recorded personal bests. The accomplishment by the young Pirates bodes well for the future of the team.
Rounding out the competition for the Pirates were Junior Josh Gideon (29:07.6) and Junior Matthew Broussard (30:27.0)
The Trinity and Emory women and the Centre and Emory men will represent the South/Southeast Region at the NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, to be held Saturday, Nov. 22, at the L.S. Ayres Complex in Hanover, Ind. Hanover College is the host of the championships.
The women's individual national qualifiers are: Taylor Stephens of Rhodes, Lolly Plummer of Hendrix, Hayley Sullivan of Mary Washington, Cybil Covic of Rhodes, Jessica Shaw of Washington & Lee, Elizabeth Webb of Washington & Lee, and Amy Wampler of Christopher Newport.
The men's individuals are: David Woodson of Christopher Newport, Ricky Flynn of Lynchburg, Bryant Wright of Trinity, Ben Donnan of Texas-Tyler, Ken Wheeler of McMurry, Warren Brown of Texas-Tyler, and Mark Handelman of Rhodes.