AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Southeastern University women’s cross country team won their second Sun Conference championship in a row, and third in four years on Saturday.

The Fire had all five of their scoring runners place among the top seven for a team score of 19, beating Ave Maria by 61.

“I felt we had the team to win this year, but have had a lot of challenges with injuries and illness,” said coach Paul Kurtz. “I think we came out and with our depth, we were able to put it all together and do what we needed to do, and do it in great fashion.”

Junior Julia Rohm cruised to victory and picked up her sixth win of the season, along with Sun Conference Runner of the Year honors and First Team All-Sun Conference recognition in a time of 18:36.

“Being out front all year has made me mentally stronger because I know I need to keep myself accountable,” said Rohm. “It felt pretty good to win after being third my freshman year and second last year, and I’m just really thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to run and be a part of this team.”

Raeanna Pabon was second in 18:59. Junior Isabel Oliveto was fourth in 19:35 with Makenzie Johnson following in 19:51. Emma McLaughlin was seventh with a time of 20:16. Those four joined Rohm on the first team.

Earning second team honors were Kathy Macedo and Madison Lilienthal, placing 13^th and 14^th in times of 20:53 and 20:55, respectively.

Senior Makayla Kalapuch was 20^th in a time of 21:46.

Kurtz earned his fourth Sun Conference Coach of the Year selection in women’s cross country since 2016.

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LAKELAND, Fla. — The Southeastern University cross country team was almost perfect in its second meet of the season.
 
With a score of 18, the Fire were just three points away from a perfect score and were almost 70 points clear of second place Ave Maria with an average time that was more than two minutes faster.
 
“We had a little bit different strategy this week to take it out a little bit easier at a tempo pace for the first mile and a half and they executed that perfectly and moved up through the pack and did what we came here to do,” said coach Paul Kurtz.
 
Junior Julia Rohm was in control for most of the 5K race, winning the overall title for the second year in a row and posting a time of 19:33.
 
“The first two miles were comfortably fast, then I tried to pick it up a little bit the last mile,” said Rohm, who is unbeaten this season. “It felt pretty good today. It was really good to run with my team at the beginning and we all feel good running together.”
 
Senior Raeanna Pabon was 27 seconds behind Rohm, placing second in 20:00.
 
“I’m kind of known for being one of the better pacers on the team, so I wanted to make sure that we ran at a comfortable pace and have some strength at the end,” said Pabon.
 
The Fire had seven of the Top 10 runners with sophomores Liliana Baker and Emma Woltjer followed by junior Isabel Oliveto finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth and doing so within nine seconds. Baker posted a time of 20:32 followed by Woltjer at 20:36, and Oliveto at 20:41.
 
“We really pushed each other the first mile and got in a groove and it was nice to run all together,” said Baker. “I underestimated the sand a little bit so it was tough to find some footing at the beginning.”
 
Makenzie Johnson was eighth in 20:55 and Emma McLaughlin ninth in 21:03.
 
Next Saturday, the Fire will run at Ave Maria University in a preview of The Sun Conference Championship.

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