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Mudy wins SSAC cross country crown, Lady Hawks place second
GULFPORT, Miss. - Justyna Mudy did all she could to help will the Shorter University women's cross country team to an automatic bid into the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship, running away with yet another Southern States Athletic Conference title.
Her teammates put forth a valiant effort, but in the end, the Lady Hawks came up eight points short.
Mudy, the defending NAIA individual champion, beat Lee University's Anna Hrushka by 59 second to win the SSAC's individual crown, but the Lady Flames posted three top five individual finishes to conclude the event with 32 points and edge the Lady Hawks for the 2010 SSAC Cross Country championship.
Lee's win provides it an automatic berth into the championships, which will be held in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 20.
Shorter, which is receiving votes in the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll, will have to wait and see if it is awarded an at-large bid based upon its strong 2010 regular season resume. The Lady Hawks finished 19th at last year's national championship meet - its first appearance as a team in program history.
Mudy completed the 5k course at the Sportsplex in Gulfport, Miss., in a time of 17:15. It was the senior's fifth event victory of the season and Mudy will attempt to win her fifth individual national championship when she toes the line in Vancouver in two weeks.
Shorter finished with 40 points as a team as Sarah Massey (18:40) placed fourth, Shea Spicher (18:58) finished sixth, Kaitlin Shaw (19:23) crossed the line in 10th and Katie Rutledge (20:33) rounded out Shorter's point producers in 19th.
Southern Wesleyan (94), Spring Hill (106) and Loyola-New Orleans (111) rounded out the top five team finishers.
