THIBODAUX, La. – UIW’s Joy Gill cruised to a victory by more than 27 seconds to take the individual title and New Orleans took its first-ever team title at the 2022 Southland Conference Women’s Cross Country Championships at the Nicholls Farm on Friday morning.
Gill’s 6-kilometer time of 20:24.59 gave the freshman the conference championship, Southland Runner of the Year, and Southland Freshman of the Year honors. She is the first Southland runner to win the conference title as a freshman since 2014.
The Privateers were led by Ariana Jimenez in second at 20:52.48 and Tshwanelo Maruping in third at 20:57.77 to take the team title with 32 points, a margin of 55 points over Lamar in second place with 87 points. Maruping was named the conference Newcomer of the Year.
This is the Privateers’ first Southland title and the 32 points is the lowest team total at the Southland Championship since Lamar’s record 20-point finish in 2014.
New Orleans’ team scorers were rounded out by Alexandra Weir in seventh, Rebecca Dekay in eighth, and Anna Martin in 12th. Head coach Brock Moreaux was named the Southland Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Lamar was the team runner-up with 87 points, UIW finished in third with 91 points, McNeese was fourth with 103 points, and HCU was fifth with 118 points.
The first team all-conference consists of Gill, Jimenez, Maruping, Lamar’s Yasmin Austridge, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Faith Bett.
The all-conference second team is made up of HCU’s Jessica Rabius, New Orleans’ Weir, New Orleans’ Dekay, Lamar’s Jillian Howard, and Lamar’s Nia Clatworthy.
TEAM STANDINGS – FULL RESULTS
| Pl | School | Pts |
| 1 | New Orleans | 32 |
| 2 | Lamar | 87 |
| 3 | UIW | 91 |
| 4 | McNeese | 103 |
| 5 | HCU | 118 |
| 6 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | 130 |
| 7 | Nicholls | 130 |
| 8 | Texas A&M-Commerce | 230 |
| 9 | Southeastern | 236 |
| 10 | Northwestern State | 304 |
{Courtesy: Southland Conference}