Saint Leo, Fla.----The Wingate University Bulldog women's cross country team finished 30th (out of 32 teams) in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship race Saturday morning at The Abbey Course in Saint Leo, Fla. The Saint Leo University Lions served as the hosts for this year's championship event (complete women's 6K results).
 
WU redshirt sophomore Sydney Lautzenheiser (North Canton, Ohio) was the first Bulldog to cross the finish line, placing 143rd (out of 240 student-athletes) with a 6K time of 22:46.0. Junior teammate Madison Hiatt (Fresno, Calif.) finished 152nd with a 22:52.6 clocking.

"I'm happy with the way the women stepped up with one of their teammates out with an injury," Wingate head cross country coach Ashley Glover says. "I'm proud of Sydney for taking leadership today as the top finisher for us. She did a great job of staying engaged and moving up throughout the race."
 
Bulldog junior Valerie Griesche (Ingolstadt, Germany) was 182nd with a 6K clocking of 23:25.5. Her classmate Juliet Salgueiro (Savannah, Ga.) placed 191st overall with a time of 23:36.6. Senior Morgan Neher (Sedalia, Colo.) capped her career in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold with a 225th place finish and a 24:36.7 clocking.
 
The Grand Valley State University Lakers earned the team national championship in dominant fashion, posting a total team score of 116. The defending national champion Adams State University Grizzlies finished as the runner-up with a team score of 139.
 
GVSU senior and two- time All-American Kendra Foley (Noblesville, Ind.) earned the individual national title crown with a 6K time of 20:01.8. University of Mary junior Alexis Zeis (Bismarck, N.D.) finished second overall individually with a 20:26.4 clocking to lead the U-Mary Marauders to a seventh-place finish as a team.
 
University of Mount Olive freshman Leah Hanle (Lichtenstein, Germany) was the first Southeast Region representative to cross the finish line, placing 25th overall with a 6K time of 21:14.6 to cap a tremendous first-year campaign for the Trojans.
 
(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate. He is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)