Mount Olive Takes Home 2016 Conference Carolinas Women's Cross Country Championship; Hanle Sweeps Major Awards
Mount Olive Takes Home 2016 Conference Carolinas Women's Cross Country Championship; Hanle Sweeps Major Awards
CONCORD, N.C. – The University of Mount Olive women won the 2016 Conference Carolinas Women's Cross Country Championship at Frank Liske Park in Concord, N.C. on Friday afternoon. Trojan freshman Leah Hanle took the individual title in the women's 6K race to earn Runner of the Year honors.
Mount Olive registered a score of 39 to earn the team title, beating Limestone by 18 points who tallied 57 points for a second-place finish.
North Greenville would notch third with 107 points, with Pfeiffer and Belmont Abbey finishing fourth and fifth with 126 and 141 points, respectively. Barton scored 153 points for sixth, Southern Wesleyan placed seventh with 179 points, with King close behind with 181 points for eighth. Closing out the race results are Converse in ninth with 199 points and Lees-McRae with 272 in 10th.
Individually, Hanle swept the Runner and Freshman of the Year awards after running the race in 22:29.87.
Mount Olive head coach, Matt van Lierop, was named Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year after leading the No. 6 regionally ranked Trojans to their second straight conference championship.
Full Conference Carolinas WXC Championship Results
The top 15 finishers were named All-Conference selections:
2016 Conference Carolinas Women's All-Conference Teams
All-Conference First Team
Leah Hanle, Mount Olive
Sharon Kiptoo, Barton
Allyson Malone, Limestone
Bailee Henry, Mount Olive
Sarah Rutto, Limestone
All-Conference Second Team
Heather Cuddington, Barton
Kelsey Valentine, Mount Olive
Hannah Zenker, Belmont Abbey
Kylie Spencer, Pfeiffer
Cori Small, North Greenville
All-Conference Third Team
Shona Blades, Mount Olive
Krysta Pierstorff, Limestone
Kaitlin Rivera, King
Shamia Thompson, Limestone
Annie Hetzel, Belmont Abbey
Conference Carolinas Tournament Champion:
University of Mount Olive
Runner of the Year:
Leah Hanle, Mount Olive
Freshman of the Year:
Leah Hanle, Mount Olive
Coach of the Year:
Matt van Lierop, Mount Olive
Conference Carolinas is a NCAA Division II athletics conference made up of 12 teams from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. These institutions consist of: Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Converse College, Emmanuel College, Erskine College, King University, Lees-McRae College, Limestone College, University of Mount Olive, North Greenville University, Pfeiffer University, and Southern Wesleyan University. Emmanuel College is currently completing the NCAA Membership Process and will be fully competing in league championships in the near future.