LAKELAND, Fla.—Fire fans had grown accustomed to seeing an SEU jersey leading the pack at cross country meets the past five years.
Two Sun Conference titles later, the Southeastern University cross country team had to find a new method to success following the graduation of three-time NAIA All-American
Julia Rohm.
Despite not winning any meets this year, Southeastern showed improvement throughout the season with its young roster which will potentially return five of their top seven at this year's Sun Conference Championship next season.
Grace Feder qualified for the NAIA National Championship and was the top runner on the roster in each meet this season. She narrowly missed breaking the 19-minute mark in the 5K at the Appalachian Challenge and earned First-Team All-Sun Conference honors with a sixth-place finish at the conference championship.
Feder was 163
rd at the national championship meet in 24:10 for 6K and ran a 20:12 through 5K in Vancouver, Wash. The 2023 season saw the conference and national championship races move from a 5K to a 6K.
Jillian Blaser was a Second-Team All-Sun Conference selection, finishing 10
th at the championship in 24:05.
Natalie Rohm joined Blaser on the second team with a 14
th-place finish.
The roster will now shift its focus this spring to attempting to win an unprecedented fifth-straight Sun Conference championship in track and field.
