CHARLOTTE, N.C.- It was a battle of Southeast Region powerhouses today at the 2009 Conference Carolinas Cross Country Championship hosted by Queens University of Charlotte at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte, N.C. The current top-ranked team in the region, Queens, captured its first-ever conference crown with a score of 50, two points better than the second team in the region, Lees-McRae.
Anderson's Whiteny Bishoff showed her stuff to win the individual title in the 5,000-meter run. Bishoff jumped out to a 30-meter lead then extended her lead even further to finish 28 seconds faster than the next racer, Jessica Neville (Cold Spring, N.Y., Haldane). The title is Bishoff's second in as many years and her time of 18:00 lops off 55 seconds from her own record as the fastest time in Conference Carolinas Championship history. As a team Anderson placed fourth.
Neville led the five Queens runners to their first conference title in program history with her time of 18:28.The time is a personal best for Neville and also a new Queens school record. Behind Neville was Freshman of the Year Maraya Slatter (Benson, N.C., West Johnston) took third place with a time of 18:36.
Limestone's Courtney Rankin and Quanika Blackmon rounded out the five top finishers and turned in times of 18:52 and 19:10.
The first four times turned in are the four fastest times run in Conference Carolinas Championship meet history.
A mix of schools rounded out the top 10 with Holly Annas (Granite Falls, N.C., South Caldwell) of Queens placing sixth, Kira Shoemaker and Carla Swart of Lees-McRae in seventh and eighth, Lindsey Phillips of Pfeiffer in ninth and April Harris of Belmont Abbey in 10th.
The top five finishers are named All-Conference First Team, the next five are All-Conference Second Team and the 11-15 finishers are All-Conference Third Team.
Bishoff was named the Runner of the Year, Slatter Freshman of the Year and Queens Head Coach Scott Simmons earned the distinction of Coach of the Year.
Up next for many, if not all, of the teams is the 2009 Southeast Regional Championship on November 7 at Wingate University.
2009 Conference Carolinas Cross Country Results
1. Queens 2 3 6 12 27 = 50
Jessica Neville, Maraya Slatter, Holly Annas, Katie Snow, Sarah Khan
2. Lees-Mcrae 7 8 10 13 14 (15) (25) = 52
Kira Shoemaker, Carla Swart, April Harris, Hannah Henderson, Danielle Lindquist, Cinthia Lehner, Ashley May
3. Limestone 4 5 26 32 36 (52) (72) = 103
Courtney Rankin, Quanika Blackmon, Molly Reichwald, Jenny Altieri, Alex Gadea, Amanda Clausing, Ashton Sellers
4. Anderson 1 17 21 23 64 (65) = 126
Whitney Bishoff, Emily Eckroth, Chelsea Rogers, Lynne Flint, Amanda Johnson, Isabel Berry
5. Converse 18 19 22 30 38 (40) (49) = 127
Brittany Hogue, Samantha Nicholson, Carrie Jackson, Amy Bassett, Elizabeth High, Michelle Coloney, Amy Sue Guinn
6. Erskine 20 28 34 37 45 (50) (56) = 164
Katie Henderson, Kateryna Slyepstova, Katie Moore, Liz Loftis, Beck Fick, Sarah Money, Mandy Brandon
7. Pfieffer 9 24 33 54 58 (62) (67) = 178
Lindsey Phillips, Kaitlyn Mullis, Magen Abernathy, Yasmin Ingram, Rachel Biggerstaff, April Hinson, Chelsea Tysinger
8. Belmont Abbey 11 39 42 46 47 (60) (61) = 185
Emily Boggs, Monica Remmes, Kristin Mahoney, Chanelle Fleagle, Nadine Ntumba, Elizabeth O Malley, Bridget Conroy
9. Coker 16 35 43 44 55 (73) = 193
Sam Fletcher, Dana Daves, Aliese Gregory, Alex Ochoa, Amy Jones, Caitlyn Driscoll
10. Mount Olive 31 41 57 66 68 (69) (75) = 263
Melissa Moore, Nikkolette Lucas, Caitlin Pye, Rocio Alvarado, Angela Bailey, Tiondra Miller, Ashley Sawyer
11. St. Andrews 29 48 63 70 71 (76) (77) = 281
Alex King, Anna Egeln, Danielle Martin, Rebecca Maye, Lauren Crabb, Amy Tripson, Amanda Espinosa
12. Barton 51 53 59 74 78 (79) (80) = 315
Alexa Tovella, Brittany Cowan, Saybah Reed, Sandy Dickerson, Amber Fletcher, Jessica Hutcherson, Cynthia Burroughs
