Principia Women Dethrone Greenville; Win Fifth Conference Championship in Program History
Hillsboro, Ill. – The Principia College women's cross country team won the 2010 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Cross Country Championship to dethrone Greenville College after six consecutive years. The Championship is the fifth in Principia's history and their first since 1994.
Greenville College freshman Aubree Schreder won the individual title to earn SLIAC Runner and Newcomer of the Year honors. She posted a time of 22:06.69 on the 6K course at the Hillsboro Country Club and Park District. Schreder's time was just under nine seconds faster than teammate Michelle Sutton in second place. Sutton, who ran a time of 22:15.15, is the first SLIAC female runner to finish in the top two in each of her four appearances in the Championship (2nd in 2006, 1st in 2008 and 2009, 2nd in 2010).
Greenville had three runners finish in the top 10 and posted a total of 71 points to place third. Principia posted 60 points for their first place finish and had two runners in the top 10. Webster University placed second with 64 points and also had two runners in the top 10.
Fontbonne University, University of Dallas, Westminster College (Mo.), Eureka College, Spalding University and Blackburn College placed fourth through ninth respectively.
Principia's championship squad was led by First Team All-SLIAC Recipients Casey Powell and Emily Osborne. Powell placed third overall with a time of 23:17.37, while Osborne was seventh overall with a time of 24:08.32. Teammate Alyssa Cheatham (25:24.95) placed 13th overall to earn Second Team All-SLIAC.
In addition to Schreder and Sutton, Greenville's Shanna Ambuehl (23:58.43) also was named First Team All-SLIAC after placing sixth. Joining them on the First Team were Fontbonne's Rachel Hanson (23:29.92) and Westminster's Sarah Koestner (23:54.25) in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Webster had three runners named Second Team All-SLIAC. Eroica Stackhouse (24:18.36), Jane McKibben (24:24.73) and Heather Heisse (25:27.78) finished in eighth, ninth and 14th place respectively to lead their squad to a second place team finish.
Also named Second Team All-SLIAC were Dallas' Catherine Sercer (25:12.03) in 10th place and Westminster's Kaily Downey (25:18.70) in 12th place..
Other awards announced during the All-Star Trophy Awards Ceremony following the race was Principia's Chuck Wilcoxen as the SLIAC Coach of the Year, while Principia also received the Sportsmanship Award.
