University of Southern Indiana Women’s Cross Country returned to the top of the of the Great Lakes Valley Conference mountain Saturday morning at Angel Mounds as the No. 22 Screaming Eagles edged No. 11 Southwest Baptist University to capture their 10th conference title in the last 12 years and league-record 13th overall.
The Eagles got a huge boost from their No. 4-7 runners as they finished the GLVC Championships with 48 points, eight in front of the Bearcats, to earn their first title since 2017.
Southwest Baptist jumped out to a big lead as a pair of Bearcats—individual winner and GLVC Runner of the Year Elysia Burgos as well as GLVC Freshman of the Year Tesa Valdivia—finished in front of USI’s top finisher.
Junior Jennifer Comastri was the first to cross the finish line for the Eagles as the Indianapolis native was fifth with a six-kilometer time of 21 minutes, 51.45. Senior Hope Jones was sixth with a time of 21:55.75, but the Bearcats’ No. 3 runner, Tabitha Weber, finished seventh, two spots ahead of USI’s No. 3, freshman Presley Warren.
Down by eight points with three runners across the finish line, the Eagles’ scored a three-point win at No. 4 as junior Dorian Langlois posted a 13th-place finish. Freshman Mckenna Cavanaugh, USI’s No. 5 finisher, out-kicked Southwest Baptist’s No. 4 finisher for 15th. The gap between Cavanaugh and Southwest Baptist’s No. 5 proved significant as the Eagles also placed their No. 6 and No. 7 finishers in front of the Bearcats’ No. 5, who was 28th overall.
Rounding out USI’s top seven runners was freshman Aubrey Swart, who was 21st in the 143-competitor field, and sophomore Emma Brown who finished 25th.
Comastri, Jones, Warren, Langlois and Cavanaugh all were named All-GLVC due to their top-15 finishes, while Head Coach Mike Hillyard earned GLVC Coach of the Year honors for the 27th time in his career—Hillyard collected his 28th GLVC Coach of the Year honor following the men’s race.
The University of Indianapolis, last year’s GLVC champion, finished third in the 14-team field, while Rockhurst University and Missouri S&T respectively rounded out the top five teams.
USI returns to action November 9 when it hosts the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships at Angel Mounds. The women’s 6k is slated for a 10:30 a.m. start time, while the men’s 10k is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m.
