Principia's Powell Repeats as SLIAC Champion; Leads Squad to Team Title
HILLSBORO, Ill. - Principia College senior Casey Powell captured her second consecutive St. Louis Intercollege Athletic Conference (SLIAC) women's cross country individual championship, while also leading her squad to the 2012 team title.
Powell posted a time of 22:41.5 on the 6K course at the Hillsboro Country Club to repeat as SLIAC Runner of the Year and earn First Team All-SLIAC honors. She finished 16 seconds ahead of the second place runner to secure the title.
Principia had two other runners finish in the top 10 in addition to Powell. Sophomore Sarah Litwiller placed third overall with a time of 23:05.3, while junior Emily Osborne took home sixth place with a time of 23:57.1. Both Litwiller and Osborne also joined Powell on the All-SLIAC First Team.
Rounding out Principia's scoring were juniors Anneke Reed and Haley Morton in 13th and 17th place respectively. Reed recorded a time of 24:51.9 and earned Second Team All-SLIAC. Morton's final time was 25:17.4.
Westminster College's Sarah Koestner, a junior, was close on the heels of Powell and finished with a time of 22:57.3 in second place. Teammate Kaily Downey (Sr.) ran a time of 23:09.4 to finish in fourth. Both Koestner and Downey received First Team All-SLIAC, while also helping the Blue Jays to a second place team finish.
Westminster junior Sarah Ogar was named the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year. She placed eighth overall with a time of 24:08.8, and received Second Team All-SLIAC honors.
Other First Team All-SLIAC recipients include Fontbonne University junior Alyssa Tonner and Webster University junior Heather Heisse.Tonner finished in fifth place with a time of 23:39.4. Heisse recorded a time of 24:07.9 for seventh place.
Joining Ogar and Reed on the All-SLIAC Second Team were Webster's Eroica Stackhouse and Julie Greenough, Fontbonne's Kristen Roles an Adrienne Kaup and Greenville College's Molly Works. Stackhouse and Greenough finished ninth and 11th respectively with times of 24:25.7 and 24:42.8. Roles and Kaup were in 10th and 12th respectively with times of 24:33.5 and 24:48.7, while Works had a time of 24:54.1 for 14th place.
Also recognized at the conclusion of the event were the 2012 SLIAC Coach of the Year, Sportsmanship Award and All-Sportsmanship Team. Principia College head coach Chuck Wilcoxen was named Coach of the Year, marking the second time in three years that he has received the award. Wilcoxen guided his team to their second SLIAC Championship in three years and sixth overall for the program.
Greenville College received the team Sportsmanship Award for the second consecutive year and fourth time overall. The following individuals were also named to the 2012 SLIAC Women's Cross Country All-Sportsmanship Team: April Corcoran (Blackburn), Shelbi Rodgers (Eureka), Alyssa Tonner (Fontbonne), Sylvia Haygood (Greenville), Emily Osborne (Principia), Kayla Payne (Spalding), Eroica Stackhouse (Webster) and Sarah Ogar (Westminster).
