LAKELAND, Fla. – The Fire put together a solid championship effort Saturday morning. Grace Feder raced to a NAIA National qualifier finish, while both Ethan Campbell and Joshua Shields garnered All-Sun Conference to lead Southeastern University in the Sun Conference Cross Country Championships.
Feder was the first non-SCAD Savannah runner to cross the women's 6K finish line. The Fire junior recorded an impressive 23:48.3 time for the course for sixth place, earned All-Sun Conference First Team acclaim, and moved on as an individual to the NAIA National Championship race.
For the men, both Campbell and Shields made their own marks over the 8K distance at the Holloway Park course. Campbell was the first of the Fire men as he took ninth with a time of 26:55.9, while Shields was only four places behind him in 13th (27:25.6). Both Campbell and Shields received All-Sun Conference Second Team honors.
In the team standings, SCAD Savannah was the clear top team in both the women's and men's fields in first place. The SEU women recorded a score of 69 in the 7-team field behind SCAD Savannah's perfect score of 15 and Ave Maria's 51.
SEU took fourth in the men's field with a 78 score of the seven teams. SCAD Savannah won with a 35, while Ave Maria (51) and St. Thomas (58) were second and third.
Individually, SCAD Savannah runners took the top five women's spots for the shutout with Maddy Walter-Sherretts besting teammate Talia Sullivan by 23 seconds, 22:27.7 to 22:50.5.
St. Thomas' Martin Ahlstrom had the top men's time for the individual title in 25:45.0 ahead of SCAD Savannah's Ethan Davis (26:06.6).
After Feder, the SEU women were bunched together for their other scoring runners. Freshman Izzy Colebank captured 16th (25:38.8) with Ashlyn Poulin and Maci Mills right behind her in 17th (25:42.2) and 18th (25:47.0). Jillian Blaser completed the scoring Fire runners in 20th (25:59.4). Ashlin Price and Sophie Robinson rounded out the top seven in 26:00.6 (21st) and 26:36.9 (23rd).
Following Campbell and Shields, the SEU men saw Jordan Hierholzer as the third to cross the finish line in 27:47.9 (15th). Felipe Ledesma and Noah Joos were within eight seconds of each other in 20th (28:21.1) and 21st (28:31.9). Luke Van Scoy and Emilio Ancaya were the final Fire scoring racers in 25th (28:44.6) and 27th (28:58.4).
Other SEU Runners
Women:
Riley McKinney – 26:47.5
Jaa'Ln McBride – 26:55.8
Natalie Rohm – 26:56.9
Kaitlyn Voukapich – 27:06.4
Marlee Irvin – 27:08.3
Gracie McGee – 27:21.2
Joselyn Rivera – 33:12.3
Men:
Jeremy Durbin – 29:21.8
Tobias Dickerson – 29:22.7
Michael McDow – 29:42.3
Luke Callery – 30:37.2
Nathan Evans – 30:53.9
Kodi Quimby – 33:57.0
Carson Hill – 35:57.0
Tyler Moody – 36:26.0
