From Washington University Athletics
For the fourth time in school history, the Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's cross country teams swept the team titles at the 2014 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships Saturday at Forest Park.
The Washington University women had five runners finish in the top-10 to score 23 points and win its first team title since 2011. Two-time defending champion University of Chicago finished second with 60 points. The Bears' 23 points marks the third-lowest winning total in UAA history, behind University of Rochester's 17 in 1987 and Washington U.'s 22 in 2004. All five point scorers for the Washington U. men earned all-UAA honors as the Bears scored 37 points to win their fifth straight conference title. Carnegie Mellon University finished second with 60 points, while Chicago was third with 78.
"We had an amazing weekend," head coach Jeff Stiles said. "The athletes put on a clinic on how to execute moving up in the race. Lucy's performance becoming the first three-time UAA individual champion, along with the fastest time in UAA history, was epic. I couldn't have asked for more from the teams. We have a goal to win six UAA team titles this year in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field, so this was a special weekend to take two steps closer to that goal."
Senior Lucy Cheadle cemented her place in UAA history by becoming the first runner in conference history, men's or women's, to win three consecutive individual championships. She clocked a career-best 6K time of 20:31.60 to win the race by more than a minute over runner-up Catherine Young of Chicago (21:53.59). Cheadle's time was also nearly 47 seconds faster than the previous fastest winning time in UAA history.
"Conference is a really special meet to me and getting to run it on my home course with everybody that I care so much about cheering me on, that was really what pushed me," Cheadle said. "We had the cross country kids, the track kids, the athletic director and the dean of students – there were a lot of really special people out there rooting for us."
Junior Ellen Toennies finished third in a time of 21:55.14, while freshman Alison Lindsay ran a season-best time of 22:00.46 to place fourth. Sophomore Sarah Curci also earned first-team all-UAA honors, running a season-best time of 22:05.10 to place sixth. Sophomore Kimberly Johnson finished ninth with a season-best time of 22:15.59 to pick up second-team all-UAA recognition.
The Washington U. men were led by senior Garrett Patrick and junior Josh Clark, who finished third and fourth in the 8K race in times of 25:19.62 and 25:20.13, respectively. Junior Adam Streicher also ran to first-team all-UAA honors, placing seventh overall in a season-best time of 25:32.95. Sophomore Ryan Becker (25:34.71) and freshman Ian Whittall (25:44.81) also posted season-best times to earn second-team all-UAA honors by finishing ninth and 14th, respectively.
Notes: Washington U. was the third women's team and fourth men's team in UAA history to win titles on their home course … The Washington U. men and women also swept the UAA team titles in 2003, 2010 and 2011 … It was Washington U.'s 13th UAA Championship for the women's team, and the ninth for the men … Cheadle's individual title marks the 13th time a Washington U. women's runner has finished first in the UAA ... Lindsay and Whittall earned UAA Rookie of the Year honors as the top freshmen finishers in each race ... It is the third time in school history that Washington U. runners have swept both Rookie of the Year awards.