RESULTS

(BILLINGS, Montana) PLNU Women's Cross Country was already racing in tough, 20-degree conditions at the NCAA West Regional Championships.
 
Then to add insult to injury, the Sea Lions had two runners get tripped up. One was forced to leave the race, while the other had a spike taken off and was forced to run over two miles with just one spike and a sock.
 
Despite the unideal circumstances, Head Coach Landon Bright was proud of his team's effort, finishing 18th out of 26 teams.
 
"We had a good race today in pretty tough conditions," Bright said. "I'm proud of the group overall. They competed hard and ran well in some tough elements."
 
Aubrie Nex led the Sea Lions by finishing the 6K in a time of 22:13.10, placing her 41st out of 168 runners, as the Third Team All-PacWest selection improved upon her 64th place finish at last year's regionals.
 
Ryley Burns was next to cross the finish line in 85th (23:02.06), making it two Sea Lions in the top-100. Maddie Reeves (23:32.84) and Kellis Hein (23:33.78) finished in consecutive places in 111th and 112th respectively, while Bree Gentry was not far behind to wrap up PLNU's scoring (118th – 23:40.76).
 
All of PLNU's top-five are underclassmen, meaning the future remains Bright for the Sea Lions.
 
"I think overall we were wanting to finish a little higher in the standings, but losing one of our top-five was unfortunate," Bright said. "All things considered, it didn't go our way in that sense, but they raced hard and got some good experience in."
 
Now the team turns its attention to track & field season, coming up this spring.
 
"We're looking to get some rest here and get going with track training," Bright said. "We put in a good season of races and got some good experience under our belt. I think the group knows what it needs to do moving forward and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do in the spring to get more and more competitive."