Southland Men's Results

Southland Women's Results

Photos: www.nsudemons.com/gallerie?gallery=351

NATCHITOCHES -- Freshman Joshua Wilkins was Northwestern State's top finisher, 22nd overall among 95 contestants Monday at the 2014 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships staged around and in NSU's Walter P. Ledet Track Complex, as both young NSU teams posted what coach Nathanial McReynolds called their best performances of the year.

The Lady Demons were led by Jacqueline Rushford, scoring 47th in 23:24.1 over 6,000 meters, just ahead of teammate Erin Wrozek, 50th in the scoring column in 23:29.3.

"It's a very interesting dynamic with freshmen," said McReynolds. "You have to teach them not only about running, but how to get so many things done. It's exciting to see when they put it all together like they did today. Everybody improved, everybody got faster, and it came in the meet that we pointed toward all season long."

Wilkins covered the 8,000-meter course in 25:03.8.

"Josh was excellent today. He broke 26 minutes, was top 25, and I can't wait to see what he does as he improves," said McReynolds. " The rest of the team did exactly what I asked. We had a pack in the middle, we executed our plan to precision, and we ran our best races. I could not be more proud of my young men today, and all season."

"The goal was not to go out with the lead pack," said Wilkins. "The third loop, I was hoping to pick it up and catch some people. Then as it went on, my goal was to get going and get a sub-25. I think I had a good race, it was a PR, and that is something I'm proud about."

Joining Wilkins on the Demons' scorecard: freshman Grant Butts (63rd, 27:08.6); freshman Hunter Warmack (64th, 27:11.7); sophomore Lucas Moncla (71st, 27:35.6) and sophomore Skylor Reese (72nd, 27:37.9). NSU's other competitors were junior Jeremy Elliott (78th, 28:16.1), sophomore Miles Brown (86th, 30:32.3) and freshman Tyler Corwin (93rd, 31:23.5).

"Excellent race," said McReynolds. "We were competing with six regionally-ranked teams. We've made improvements this year, and I expect us to move up again in the standings next year."

Both NSU squads stood 10th in the team standings with 13 women's teams and 12 men's teams competing. Lamar successfully and convincingly defended its team titles, and claimed the individual victories, with Sam Stabler taking the men's crown by 13 seconds in 23:29.1 and Minttu Hukka dominating the women's race witha 20:06.6 time that was 38 seconds better than second.

Along with Rushford and Wrozek, the Lady Demons' other three scorers in their all-freshman lineup were Erin Sitarz (57th, 23:49.6), Emily Sitarz (65th, 24:14.6) and Ashley Adams (67th, 24:39.3). Annie Fillers ran 72nd for NSU in 25:32.8.

Rushford was literally almost breathless after the race.

"I feel like I finish every race hard, and I always feel like I could have done a little bit better, but not today," she said.  That was definitely all I could do."

She said Wrozek's strong race helped her run her best Monday.
 
"We don't have a top runner. It's always been Erin and me, and we've gone back and forth literally every race," said Rushford. "Probably the only reason I finished so well was that I had her to pace off, and if she wouldn't have been there there's no telling what would have happened."
 
The completely freshman lineup for the Lady Demons set a baseline for its future, she said.

"We're a pretty young team. Today is a standard for next year. As a team, we set the standard pretty high because we all ran really hard and gave it our best.
 
McReynolds was proud of the Lady Demons' performance Monday.

"We did a very good job of running as a pack. The young group learned the difference today in racing for time and racing for place. I can't ask for anything better than they gave me today," he said. "We placed better than we did last year, and next year we should definitely be better.
 
"I'm very happy for Jacqueline. She's what I call raw material, and once we refine her running style, who knows what she'll be able to do," he said.

She said running at home was an extra thrill in her first collegiate championship event.

"There were more people out there hollering 'go Demons' and 'NSU' and that gets you pumped up. It was definitely better than running away," said Rushford.

The race ended the season for NSU, which begins work with the distance crew on the spring track and field campaign after a week off.