EVANS, Ga. -- Sparked by top-five finishes from Holly Keeper and Claudia Nunez-Lopez, the Augusta State women's cross country squad took second place Saturday morning in the Peach Belt Conference Championships at Blanchard Woods Park. The championships are part of the weekend-long PBC Fall Festival.
The Lady Jaguars matched their best-ever finish in the PBC's, equaling their second-place showings in both 2007 and 2008. Keeper was third at 24:04, just ahead of teammate and fellow sophomore Claudia Nunez-Lopez at 24:06. Junior Lyndsey Nichols gave ASU three top-15 efforts, placing 14th with a time of 25:32.
Freshman Alicia Connolly (26:02) and junior Angela Woodward (26:07) assured the Lady Jags of five top-20 finishes when Connolly and Woodward took 18th and 19th place, respectively. Junior Savannah Sutton was 22nd with an effort of 26:25, while sophomore Ivori Sneed was 37th with a time of 27:36.
Columbus State won its sixth straight league title as all five runners scored in the top 10 on the 6k course. The six straight titles are one short of the PBC record of seven set by Kennesaw State from 1994-99. CSU's Brittany Skiles won the individual championship and broke the course record.
Skiles bested the 6k course standard by more than 30 seconds as she posted a time of 23:36, finishing ahead of teammate and defending PBC champion Naomi Tanui, who was second at 23:45,
The top seven runners in Saturday's race were named first-team All-Conference while the second seven were named to the second team (see list below).
2010 Peach Belt Conference
Women's Cross Country
All-Conference Team
First Team
Brittney Skiles, Columbus State
Naomi Tanui, Columbus State
HOLLY KEEPER, AUGUSTA STATE
CLAUDIA NUNEZ-LOPEZ, AUGUSTA STATE
Ashley Arnold, Columbus State
Bonnie MacDonald, UNC Pembroke
Keely Gillespie, USC Aiken
Second Team
Haley Evans, Montevallo
Caroline Rotich, Columbus State
Moneque English, Columbus State
Kourtney Aylor, Clayton State
Allison Lones, Georgia College
Livia Mahaffie, UNC Pembroke
LYNDSAY NICHOLS, AUGUSTA STATE
Freshman of the Year
Keely Gillespie, USC Aiken
