HUGHESVILLE, Md. – The 2024 season came full circle for the Gallaudet University women's cross country team here Saturday at Oak Ridge Park, the same site of the first meet of the season. This time around, GU was running in the 2024 United East Conference Championship meet hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland.
Gallaudet finished ninth out of 13 teams with 245 team points as every Bison runner set a personal record of some sort. The host Seahawks won their fourth straight title with 30 points as St. Mary's top five runners placed in the top nine places. Cairn University was second with 92 points followed by Lancaster Bible College in third (101 points).
Cairn sophomore Clarisse Hayden won the 6K race with a time of 24 minutes and 4.51 seconds as she crossed the finish line first in a field of 88 runners. Hayden earned United East Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year honors.
Gallaudet first year
Lou Cherena (El Paso, Texas) earned third team all-conference honors with a 33rd place finish and a time of 30:08.63. Cherena took off nearly six minutes from her time of 36:00.7 on this same course at the start of the season.
The top 11 runners made first team all-conference followed by the next 11 runners (second team). The third team features runners who placed 23rd-33rd. In year's past only the top 21 runners earned all-conference honors, now over 37 percent of the field earns all-conference.
GU junior
Olivia Armstrong (Rotterdam, N.Y.) was the next Bison to cross the finish line in 47th place and a new personal record of 32:18.50. First year
Liberty Morales-Juan (Oklahoma City, Okla.) was close behind in 51st place (32:57.89).
First year
Thu Nguyen (San Bernardino, Calif.) finished 67th (36:21.49) and sophomore
Xin Lu Wall (Peshastin, Wash.) was 71st (38:06.22) to complete Gallaudet's team scoring.
Several of the Bison runners had improved over 10+ minutes from the first time they ran this course back in September.
St. Mary's coach Reava Potter was named United East Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year while St. Mary's first year Mi'Leah Cotton, who finished third overall took home United East Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year honors. Penn College's Kayleigh Miller was the United East Women's Cross Country Elite 20 award winner for top GPA at the conference final.
UP NEXT
This completes the 2024 season for the Gallaudet women's cross country team.
