LITCHFIELD, IL – The Principia Cross Country team saved their best meet of the season for the perfect time as almost every Panther runner had a new personal record at the 2023 SLIAC Championships. Greenville ran away with both team titles, but the Principia women finished 2nd out of 9 teams with 82 points, while the Principia men finished 3rd of out of 10 teams with 95 points.
The meet was held at Litchfield Country Club and began with the women's 6K. Freshman soccer player Myka Fenton joined the Panthers for the day to give them the fifth runner needed to be an official team. Fenton ran with
Sarah Erickson and
Laura Mayo as a tight pack for a fast first mile. Erickson and Mayo began to pull away after that and ran aggressively throughout the whole race. Erickson out-kicked Mayo for an impressive 2-minute PR to finish 10th overall at 26:09. Mayo finished soon after at 26:18 to drop 34 seconds off her PR from 2021. Fenton ran a strong race in her collegiate debut to finish 13th at 26:33. All three of the top Panther women earned SLIAC Second Team All-Conference for their efforts.
Joy Onyechi and
Mariana Garzon also ran incredible races, dropping a combined 12 minutes off their 6K bests and picking up crucial points for the team.
The men's 8K took off next as senior soccer player Dillon Hussey also joined the Panthers for the day as Principia's sixth runner.
Rex Heath and
Zach Proctor got near the front from the start and went to work. As has been the case most of the season, Proctor led the duo for most of the race until Heath made his move going into the last mile and finished with a powerful kick. Heath would take 6th place overall with a new PR of 26:40 for his second straight SLIAC First Team All-Conference finish. Proctor finished 11th by lowering his PR by 48 seconds to 26:54 and making SLIAC Second Team All-Conference in his first college cross country season.
Aaron Nutwell also ran a nice to finish 24th with a new PR of 28:33, and
Donbosco Ngeso lowered his PR by over a minute to finish at 30:33.
FULL RESULTS
"I couldn't be happier with the way the teams ran today," Coach Barron said afterwards. "Everyone raced outside of themselves and showed the hard work they've been putting in. It takes courage and resilience to race the way they did today. I'm proud of each one of them and proud of the team as a collective group that's growing stronger together."
Up Next: In two weeks, the Panthers will travel north to Wartburg College in Iowa for NCAA DIII Midwest Regionals. This meet will close out their season unless anyone qualifies for Nationals!