Oct. 27, 2007

Southwestern University hosted the 2007 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on Saturday (Oct. 27) morning in Georgetown, TX and the Pirates finished fifth in the women's race and seventh on the men's side.

Every single women's runner ran their lowest time of the season. Sophomore Tami Warner (Dale, TX/Lockhart HS), senior Karin Arnhamn (Manor, TX/Elgin HS) and junior Kristin Lahaie (Cypress, TX/St. Pius X) all finished together in 32nd-34th place. Warner ran 24:50.00 and was less than six seconds away from finishing in the top 30. Arnhamn crossed the finish line in 24:58.25 while Lahaie beat her lowest time of the year by over a minute.

Senior Jessica Ratcliffe (Coppell, TX/Coppell HS) placed 37th and finished in 25:07.30. After Ratcliffe in 53rd was first-year Ursula James (Sugarland, TX/Elkins HS) while sophomore Angela Anderson (Fort Hood, TX/Central Texas College) placed 69th with a time of 26:52.10. Junior Elly Martinez (Lockhart, TX/Lockhart HS) finished in 27:14.00, good for 71st.

Junior Kelly Parmet (Bellaire, TX/Bellaire HS) and Alana Buenrostro (Brownsville, TX/St. Joseph's Academy) finished back to back in 74th and 75th. Parmet recorded a time of 27:37.20 while Buenrostro finished in 27:38.90. First-year Diana Urrego (Houston, TX/St. Agnes Academy) placed 82nd with a time of 29:14.85.

DePauw University won the overall team title with 29 total points, the third lowest team score since the SCAC Cross Country Championships began in 1991. Colorado College (49), Trinity University (59), Rhodes College (103) and Southwestern (157) filled out the top five. Trinity's Emily Loeffler won the individual championship with a final time of 22:33.70, the fourth fastest time at a SCAC Championship meet since it became a 6k race.

In the men's race, junior Ben Sloan (Spartanburg, SC/Dorman HS) was the Pirates' top finisher, crossing the finish line in 28:29.50. That was a season best and was good for 39th place. First-year Addison English (Keller, TX/Keller HS) took 42nd with a time of 28:39.00 and fellow first-year Sebastian Winkler (Corpus Christi, TX/Incarnate Word Academy) ran 29:16.40 for 54th. Both first-year runners had season best times.

First-year Allen Smith (Dallas, TX/Shelton School) recorded a time of 29:35.15, finishing 58th with sophomore Josh Gideon (Mesquite, TX/McMurry University) coming in right behind him in 29:36.30 for 59th. Senior Eric Sterner (San Antonio, TX/Central Catholic Marianist HS) placed 64th at his final SCAC meet, posting a time of 30:21.95.

Sophomore Matthew Broussard (College Station, TX/A&M Consolidated HS) was 66th, crossing the end line in 30:41.75. Sophomore Shug Evans (Cedar Park, TX/University of North Texas) finished in 31:13.30 for 70th while sophomore Ted Wilson (Clyde, TX/Clyde HS) ran a 33:11.50 race, good for 80th. Sophomore Brian Schaefer (Spring, TX/Klein HS) came in 83rd with a season best 33:37.95.

The men's race was won by Colorado College with 37 points. It was the first ever SCAC Championship for the Tigers. Rounding out the top five were DePauw (63), Rhodes (78), Centre (89) and Trinity (129). The Pirates took seventh with 216 points. The individual title went to Colorado's Alex Nichols who recorded a time of 25:36.05.