Grand Valley State won its fourth national championship in the past five years.
SAINT LEO, Fla. -- The Grand Valley State women's cross country team fell just short of a fourth straight national title last season in placing second at the NCAA Championships, but the Lakers were able to claim the program's fifth national championship in 2016, defeating Adams State by a margin of 23 points. The Lakers had four runners claim All-American honors and an individual champion.
RELATED: DII results | Championship reactions
Senior Kendra Foley won her second national championship in three years and claimed All-America honors for the fourth straight year by posting a time of 20:01.8 and defeating last year's champion Alexis Zeis from the University of Mary by a margin of 24.6 seconds. Foley fell short of a national championship in 2015's race by just .3 seconds. Foley scored just 12 points in her four races in NCAA National Championship events placing 11th in her freshman year(scoring eight points), first in her sophomore year, second in her junior year, and first in her final year.
GLIAC Freshman of the Year Stacey Metzger put up the second best time for the Lakers, placing 15th in her first national championship race. Metzger posted a time of 20:57.8 and claimed All-America honors.
Your 2016 Women's Team Cross Country National Champions, Grand Valley St! #NCAAD2 #MakeItYours pic.twitter.com/xqz3BWXkEV
— NCAA Division II (@NCAADII) November 19, 2016
USTFCCCA All-Region honoree Kelly Haubert placed 35th with a time of 21:22.2, securing All-American honors, while senior Amy Creutz finished in 40th place with All-American honors in 21:30.3.
Junior Rachel Bendewald was the final scoring runner for the Lakers, finishing in 57th place with a time of 21:51.6. Freshman Jessica Gockley, and senior Alison Work also ran for the Lakers in the national championship race placing in 71st and 104th with times of 22:00.4 and 22:23.5, respectively.
The top-10 in the women's team results following the Lakers in first were Adams State (2nd, 139 points), Western State (3rd, 168 points), Chico State (4th, 189 points), Southern Indiana (5th, 209 points), Simon Fraser (6th, 210 points), U-Mary (7th, 217 points), Alaska Anchorage (8th, 259 points), Cal-Baptist (9th, 274 point), and Minnesota Duluth (10th, 284 points).
The USTFCCCA will be announcing the national award recipients this week and all honors will be posted on gvsulakers.com when they become available.
