The University of Southern Indiana women’s cross country team edged out Bellarmine University by two points to win their seventh consecutive Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Saturday morning at the Kirksville Country Club in Kirksville, Missouri.
The Screaming Eagles and Knights combined for nine of the top 11 runners. However, USI was able to pull out the victory thanks to having three runners in the top six, and four in the top nine.
Junior Melina Gryschka (Garbsen, Germany) finished the 6,000-meter race in 22 minutes, 7.07 seconds, well enough for third. Junior Hope Jones (Cumberland, Indiana) finished right behind Gryschka in fourth, crossing the line in 22:15.28.
Freshman Jennifer Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) crossed the line in sixth in a time of 22:31.34, while junior Allison Rollins (Newburgh, Indiana) was the fourth Eagle in the top 10 as she finished ninth in 22:42.05. Rounding out the scoring for USI was senior Bryce Cutler (Benzonia, Michigan) in 14th in 23:00.31.
Gryschka, Jones, Comastri, Rollins and Cutler all earned All-GLVC honors by finishing in the top 15.
Freshman Clair McCune of Drury University was the GLVC Champion. McCune was also named the Freshman of the Year.
The championship will be streamed on tape delay on the GLVC Sports Network in its entirety at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 26.
USI is back in action at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships November 4 in Cedarville, Ohio.
