Story by GSC

CLINTON, Miss. – For the fifth-consecutive year, Lee University won the Gulf South Conference Women’s Cross Country Championships, while being paced by Celine Ritter, who captured her third-consecutive individual title.

Dominating Performance By Lee

The Lady Flames tallied an impressive 21 points as they recorded an average team time of 17:36, and had six runners finish among the top ten. With its victory, Lee became the first program to win five titles in a row since Harding captured five in a row from 2005 to 2009.

READ MORE: 2021 NAIA Great Lakes Challenge cross country invitational results

Ritter led the pack with a blistering time of 16:51.07 setting a conference-record for the 5K event, eclipsing the previous mark of 17:01.68 which she set last season. As a result, she became the first women’s runner to league-history win three individual crowns.

Ritter was was followed by teammate Toni Moore (17:14.06), while Christian Brothers’ Johanna Wistokat (17:27.45) took third. Both runners also posted times worthy of the top five status for the event.

More Team Scores

In the team standings, Mississippi College finished second with 64 points and an average time of 18:23. The Choctaws were led by Jazmin Hernandez (17:35.58) who finished fourth-overall, while teammate Josie Whipp (18:02.28) placed eighth.

Alabama Huntsville (80), Union (141) and Montevallo (156) rounded out the top five in the team order.

Following the race, the Lady Flames nearly swept the season awards with Ritter named GSC Runner of the Year, while Aria Hawkins garnered the Freshman of the Year honor following an 11th-place finish. Caleb Morgan picked up his fourth Coach of the Years honor. Additionally, Anna Tankersley from Union claimed Champion Scholar-Athlete accolades.

The Gulf South Conference also acknowledged this year’s All-GSC performers, which consisted of the top 20 finishers.

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