Women' Cross Country Wins Second Straight

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Womens XC Results
Mens XC Results

Women?s Cross Country Wins Second Straight

Goodson

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- For the second week in a row the Southern Miss women?s cross country team placed four athletes in the top 10 at a meet, and for the second straight week that was good enough for a runaway victory.

Led by Lady Eagles Cassandra Goodson and Becca Rop, who finished second and third respectively, the host team won the 25^th Annual Southern Miss Cross Country Invitational held Friday at Van Hook Golf Course.

Southern Miss finished the meet with 34 points, outdistancing second-place Tulane by 22. The University of New Orleans placed third with 84 points. Southeastern Louisiana won the team title for the men with 40 points, but it was South Alabama's Harry Larubi, who won the individual title in a time of 20:12.51, just edging out teammate Tonny Okello, who finished with a time of 20:12.73. South Alabama was second (56) and Tulane third (58).

Although the Lady Eagle pair of Goodson and Rop were unable to stay with Tulane freshman Rachel Bryan, as was the case a week ago at the Tulane Invitational, on Friday it was Goodson who was Bryan?s closest challenger. At Tulane last week, Rop finished second to Bryan, while Goodson finished third.

On Friday, Bryan completed the 5K distance in 18:45, averaging two ticks more than six minutes per mile. Goodson, a senior, led the Lady Eagle contingent with a time of 19:11. Rop, also a senior, ran 19:35.

Just as Bryan was able to put several meters between her and the rest of the field for the individual title, the team competition was won handily by Southern Miss.

Also posting top10 finishes for the Lady Eagles in the 78-woman field were Dijana Kojic (sixth, 20:17) and Naomi Kiprotich (ninth, 20:27). Completing the scoring for Southern Miss was Karen Tankersley, who placed 15^th with a time of 21:03.

Rounding out the team competition, Southeastern Louisiana placed fourth with 124 points, Loyola University finished fifth with 131 points, followed by the University of South Alabama 135, Xavier 180, Jackson State University 221, Belhaven College 247 and Alcorn State University 252.

Also finishing among the top seven Lady Eagles were Rachael Nix (16^th, 21:04) and Alisha Edwards (17^th, 21:11).

Next up for Southern Miss is the Crimson Tide Classic at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Friday.

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics

Women' Cross Country Wins Second Straight

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