Taylor Wins 12th-Straight Women's Cross Country Crown
UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 1 Taylor women's cross country team made it Crossroads League Championship win number 12 in a row Friday morning at the TU Cross Country Farm behind more record-setting performances from Jaynie Halterman and the Trojans.
Taylor achieved both the 6k course record and its program record by running a team time of 1:48:34.7, a performance that helped it to a score of 29 points, or 50 points better than the runner-up, No. 9 Grace.
As for Halterman, the freshman blazed past the field in a race for the record books.
En route to the individual crown, Halterman ran a program- and course-record time of 20:36.9 – a figure that bested her own 6k program record by nearly 20 seconds and topped the previous course record by an astonishing 75 seconds. Runner-up Katie Woods of No. 14 Marian finished more than 33 seconds behind TU's phenom Friday, crossing in 21:10.1.
Had it not been for the other top six runners on Friday, third- and fourth-place finishers Ahna Neideck and Noel VanderWall also had times good enough to beat the previous 6k course record. Neideck finished in a personal-best 21:29.8, with VanderWall just behind at 21:32.2.
Sneaking inside the top 10 was Sam Patterson, who accomplished a personal-record time of 22:19.5.
Abby Mays finalized TU's team time with her 12th-place, personal-best showing of 22:36.3.
Just outside of Taylor's top five runners were Kaitlin Burden and Audrey Brinkruff, who still made the All-Crossroads League podium by taking 13th and 14th with times of 22:36.4 and 22:45.9, respectively.
The Trojans boasted seven all-league runners, though they nearly had two more with Emersyn Funk and Rebekah Firestone finishing 16th and 17th. Firestone recorded a PR with her 22:49.5, and Funk just missed out on hers with a time of 22:49.2.
Top-ranked Taylor (80-1) looks to put a bow on its historic season at the 2024 NAIA Cross Country Championship in Columbia, Missouri, on Nov. 22.