Islanders Set Multiple Personal Records at Regionals

Cross Country | November 10, 2017

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Allyson Girard recorded a top Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the fifth time this season, running to a 37th place finish in this year's NCAA South Central Regional. 

The Islander women would finish the morning 16th in a field of 24, coming ahead of the University of Houston, UTRGV and Southland Conference foes Stephen F. Austin, Incarnate Word and Nicholls. 

After setting a new personal record at this year's Southland Conference Championship, Girard further improved upon her 6K-best with a time of 21:01.2 this Friday. Her time is the fastest any Islander runner has run in the South Central regional in over a decade, and is the quickest pace a Corpus Christi athlete has secured at a regional since Anne Ronoh recorded a 21:05.4 in 2008.

Freshman Valentina Campos was the next runner to cross the finish line for the Blue and Green, coming in at 22:01.9. Teammates Liz Romo and Cynthia Quiroga came within five seconds of the first-year runner to set new PRs, with all of the Islanders' top-four runners finishing 90th or better. 

Sydney Cole rounded out the Corpus Christi point scorers at a time of 22:31.0, followed by Morgan McCutchen (22:58.1) and Bridgette Kozar (23:48.4). Both Kozar and Romo were competing in the final collegiate races of their college careers, with the latter's time of 22:04.7 setting a personal best in the 6K.

Head Coach Brent Ericksen on his team's regional performance:
"We had several personal bests in today's 6K race, especially Allyson [Girard]. But our time spread between one and five was just to big in a championship race like this. We have some great pieces here and I'm excited for next year."

The women's cross country team finishes 2017 with a pair of meet victories along with a runner-up position at the Norry Hersey Invitational earlier this year. Coming in fourth at the Southland Conference Championship two weeks ago, the ladies were again the fourth-best SLC team competing this Friday, and fall just short of qualifying for Nationals this Fall.

While the men did not compete at regionals, they also close out the season with a pair of top-three finishes, and an eighth place designation at the 2017 SLC Championship.

Women's Top-Five
37. Allyson Girard (21:01.2)
85. Valentina Campos (22:01.9)
87. Liz Romo (22:04.7)
88. Cynthia Quiroga (22:05.9)
107. Sydney Cole (22:31.0)

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