LUBBOCK, Texas—The cross country season came to an end this weekend at the NCAA D2 XC National Invitational, hosted by Lubbock Christian University. Westminster's women's team finished second and DJ Matthews, of the men's team, finished 27th.
The cross country coaches association organized the invitational to be held in place of the NCAA Championships which were canceled at the beginning of the season due to COVID-19. Teams and individuals qualified through their conference championships. The women's team finished sixth at the RMAC Championships and Matthews was one of the top-six finishers not on a qualifying men's team.
The Sunbelt Conference women's champion, Dallas Baptist, finished first with 51 points and an average time of 23:03.8. The Griffins finished with 67 points and an average time of 23:18.05 and Northwest Missouri State finished third with 71 points and an average time of 23:22.50. Florance Uwajeneza of West Texas A&M finished first individually recording a time of 21:38.92.
Saydi Anderson,
Hannah Rohrer-Fitzhugh and
Amanda Lee finished in the top-15 and were named to the All-National Team. Anderson and Lee ran career-best 6K times to finish fifth (22:41.90) and 14th (23:03.4) respectively.
Hannah Rohrer-Fitzhugh finished sixth (22:48.65),
Courtney McAlindon came in 28th (23:38.14) and
Emily Worline made up eight spots over the final mile to recorded a season-best (24:18.15) and finish 43rd, rounding out Westminster's top-five.
Katie Scott,
Maddy Vilhauer and
Josii Johnson ran for the Griffins. Scott endured an injury suffered early in the race to finish 48th (24:28.15). Vilhauer came in 59th (24:48.39) and Johsnon finished 74th (25:45.13).
On the men's side, Alabama-Huntsville finished first with 46 points followed by Colorado Mesa and West Texas A&M tied second with 77 points. Tony Torres of Colorado Mesa finished first individually with a time of 31:37.68.
DJ Matthews was the lone Griffin from the men's team running. He recorded a career-best 10K time of 33:18.91 to finish 27
th. Matthews was sixth among RMAC runners at the invitational.
