River States Conference

St. Mary-of-the-Woods claims RSC Women's XC Championship in first year

11/7/2021 12:00:00 AM

RESULTS

RICHMOND, Ind. -- The St. Mary-of-the-Woods College women's cross country team had a historic performance as the Pomeroys won the 2021 River States Conference Women's Cross Country Championship on Saturday.

In its first year in the conference, St. Mary-of-the-Woods posted its win with 58 points to edge runner-up Point Park University which finished with 61.

Indiana University Kokomo was third with 70 points, while the other squads in order were Indiana University East 115, Brescia University 132, University of Rio Grande 189, Oakland City University 191, Alice Lloyd College 207, Carlow University 246, WVU Tech 264, Ohio Christian University 282 and Midway University 285

Point Parks's Alyssa Campbell was the individual champion with time of 26:06.

"Honestly, I'm really excited about moving on to nationals, but I just found out that my team missed out by a few points, which is hard to swallow because we were really looking forward to going as team," said Campbell, who was named the RSC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year. "I feel like I ran a really good race. The other girls are such talented runners and motivating, which makes the races competitive."

St. Mary-of-the-Woods head coach Zach Whitkanack was voted RSC Coach of the Year. The RSC Newcomer of the Year was Breanna Alderton of Brescia.

The Pomeroys had four all-conference performers to claim the title. Emily Truax was on the first team with a time of 20:09.3 as she finished fifth. The three runners on the second team were Kendyll Schulz (9th, 20:35.3), Zoe Trausch (10th, 20:42.4) and Kayla Coryea (14th, 20:48.0).

In addition to Campbell and Truax, the other runners on the All-RSC First Team are also the among the top six individuals to represent the conference with individual bids to nationals. Lexi Jackson of Indiana Kokomo (second, 18:30.3), Breanna Alderton of Brescia (third, 18:51.8), Mackenzie McCarthy of Rio Grande (fourth, 18:56.4), Jana Schmid of Point Park (sixth, 20:17.5) and Savannah Hart of Indiana East (seventh, 20:22.1) are headed to the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington. The event is on Nov. 19.

The RSC Champions of Character Team was also selected with one member of each team named for best representing the NAIA five character values: Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.