Point Park places 18th at NAIA Women's XC National Championship, Shields wins title
Point Park places 18th at NAIA Women's XC National Championship, Shields wins title
By Point Park Sports Information
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Anna Shields won the NAIA national title, and the Point Park University women's cross country team placed 18th on Friday at the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Shields, a senior from Torrington, Conn., won her sixth-career NAIA national championship and her first one in cross country. The Pioneers notched their highest team finish ever at the NAIA meet, and they placed in the same spot of 18th that matched their NAIA Top 25 ranking entering the competition.
Shields led from start to finish of the 5,000-meter race, which was held at the Seminole Valley Cross Country Course. A cold and blustery day did not slow down Shields, who won by four seconds in a race that featured 339 runners. She posted a time of 17:15 with runner-up Emily Kearney of SCAD-Atlanta coming in next at 17:19. Her time was a new course record at the venue.
Shields now has six NAIA national championships and 10 NAIA All-American honors combined between track and cross country. She was NAIA All-American at last year's cross country national meet with a 12th-place finish, her career best for cross country at that time. Shields posted an average of 5:33 per mile to capture the title.
The Point Park team made its second-straight NAIA meet appearance and its third overall in program history. The Pioneers had a team score of 501 points for 18th place, which was just one point shy of 17th and eight points behind 16th. The previous-best team finish was 26th last year. The Pioneers have been nationally ranked in the Top 25 all year.
Freshman Alyssa Campbell, from New Brighton, Pa., was the second finisher for the Pioneers. Her time of 18:48 put her in 108th place at a pace of 6:03 per mile. She finished the year among the top 20 freshmen in the NAIA this year.
Senior Katie Guarnaccia ran at the NAIA national meet for the fourth time in her career and posted a time of 19:02. She is the first Point Park runner to make four national appearances in her career. Fellow senior Kara Rohlf ended her career with a personal-best at nationals. Her time of 19:15 was her best ever and was fourth on the team.
Reba Bartram made her cross country nationals debut with a time of 20:02, which was fifth for the Pioneers. Alex Barr also ran her first national meet with a time of 20:42. Alyssa Boyd was Point Park's seventh competitor with a time of 20:48.
There were six individual qualifers from the RSC competing at the NAIA National Championship. Ariel Young of Ohio Christian led that group with a time of 18:20. Lucy Williams of Rio Grande was next at 18:39 followed by Alyssa Turrentine of Ohio Christian at 18:41, Brittany Sloan of IU Kokomo at 18:44, Lexi Jackson of IU Kokomo at 19:20 and Ashley Toschlog of IU East at 19:35.
For the complete results from the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship, click here.