Women's 5k Results.pdf
Men's 8k Results.pdf

DOTHAN, Ala. – University of South Alabama runners Laura Labuschaigne, Ashley Heitling and Katleho Dyoyi each recorded a top 5 individual finish Saturday morning at the Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships held on Troy University's Dothan campus to pick up first-team all-league accolades.

"I feel that our women ran about as well as they could have as there were a couple of ranked teams ahead of them," said South Alabama head coach David Barnett.  "Ashley [Heitling] and Laura [Labuschaigne] have gotten better and better each year and they ran a solid race.  All-and-all, I feel it was a good finish for us."

The South Alabama women were unable to defend their league title, coming in third at the meet with 79 points.  Appalachian State captured their first SBC title as all six of the Mountaineers' runners placed in the top 15.  Coastal Carolina finished second with 56 points and was led by freshman Annie Bothman who took home the individual title with a time of 17:27.5, 10 seconds faster than App State's Tristian Van Ord.

The Jaguar men placed fifth ending the SBC meet with 129 points.  Meet favorite Texas-Arlington placed five runners in the top 20, including four in the top 15 and were led by individual champion Craig Lautenslager.  Lautenslager clocked a time of 24:20.9 for the Mavericks to finish five seconds better than Louisiana-Lafayette's Stanley Limoh and Beau Robinson.  The Ragin' Cajuns placed second overall with 66 points followed by Texas State who had 88 points.

"It wasn't the finish that we necessarily wanted to have going into the meet, but we have a lot of young guys on our squad and I feel the future is bright," Barnett said.  "We'll see what we can do at regionals and then also during track season."

As she has done in all four meets this fall, Labuschaigne ended the day as the top Jaguar runner placing fourth with a time of 17:52.6.  Heitling was right behind the South Alabama sophomore, coming in fifth after clocking a time of 17:53.3, which was a new personal best for the Mount Dora, Fla., native.  The all-league honors are the second for Labuschaigne and Heitling as they earned second-team accolades at last season's meet.  

USA had two other runners finish in the top 20 as senior Nicole Durham ended the meet in 19th with a time of 19:15.6 and Gillianne Sharp was just behind her with a time of 19:16.9 to give the freshman a 20th-place finish, which was the fourth-fastest time by a freshman in the league.

"I was also really pleased today with how Gillianne Sharp ran today," noted Barnett.  "For her to finish as the fourth-fastest freshman in our conference was really good for her."

Kaliee Kaminski (44th, 20:05.3) and Abigail Cain (70th, 21:45.8) also competed for the Jaguar women on Saturday.

Competing in his first meet since the season opener, Dyoyi recorded a time of 24:59.0 in the men's 8k to place fifth.  Nathan Riech just missed all-conference honors as he finished in 19th with a time of 25:55.2.

Rounding out the scoring for the Jaguars were Ben Rolader, who came in 33rd with a time of 26:34.9, Luke Fielding, who placed 35th with a time of 26:43.2 and Phillip Friedlander, who placed 37th with a time of 26:46.5.  

Also competing for South Alabama were David Savic (39th, 26:59.0) and Cameron Ellis (58th, 28:26.2).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

2016 Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships
Dothan, Ala.

Women's 5k Team Results
1) Appalachian State, 43 – 2-8-10-11-12 (15); 2) Coastal Carolina, 56 – 1-3-7-17-28 (55) (60), 3) South Alabama, 79 – 4-5-19-20-31 (44) (70); 4) Georgia State, 112 – 9-16-21-29-37 (51) (71); 5) Texas-Arlington, 141 – 6-22-36-38-39 (40) (58); 6) Arkansas State, 168 – 13-25-33-47-50 (65) (69); 7) Georgia Southern, 181 – 24-32-35-41-49 (57) (64); 8) Texas State, 183 – 18-30-34-45-56 (66) (74); 9) Louisiana-Lafayette, 217 – 14-23-46-59-75 (81) (82); 10) Troy, 235 – 26-42-52-53-62 (63) (68); 11) Louisiana-Monroe, 291 – 27-54-61-73-76 (77) (78); 12) Little Rock, 309 – 43-48-67-72-79 (80)

Men's 8k Team Results
1) Texas-Arlington, 45 – 1-4-7-15-18 (29) (34); 2) Louisiana-Lafayette, 66 – 2-3-12-23-26 (49) (52); 3) Texas State, 88 – 8-9-10-30-31 (50) (57); 4) Appalachian State, 97 – 11-14-16-20-36 (42); 5) South Alabama, 129 – 5-19-33-35-37 (39) (58); 6) Little Rock, 157 – 17-21-24-47-48 (61); 7) Arkansas State, 179* – 22-25-27-46-59; 8) Trgoy, 179* – 28-32-38-40-41 (51) (54); 9) Louisiana-Monroe, 211 – 6-43-44-56-62 (64); 10) Coastal Carolina, 226 – 13-45-53-55-60 (63)

*Tiebreakers
Arkansas State (179) – 3 (W-W-W-L-L)
Troy (179) – 2 (L-L-L-W-W)

—USA—