Kernersville, NC- The NGU Trailblazers women's cross country team won back to back Conference Carolinas Cross Country Championships with 49 total points, which was nearly a 40 point lead on Converse University's second place finish. Women's cross country is the second sport in school history to win back to back conference championships.
 
The first trailblazer to cross the line was freshman Mandi Pollard with a 3rd place finish in a time of 22:57for the 6k distance. Next to cross the line was sophomore Ellie Timmons with a 7th place finish and time of 23:40. The third Trailblazer finisher was junior Riley Shope with an 8th place finish and a time of 23:46. Following her was junior Cecily Anderton with a 15th place finish and a time of 24:08. Roundingout the top 5 was junior Addison Martin with a time of 24:18.
 
All Conference honorees from the women's team include Mandi Pollard (First Team), Ellie Timmons (First Team), Riley Shope (Second Team), Cecily Anderton (Third Team), Addison Martin (Third Team), and Paris Alsup (third team).
 
Mandi Pollard was also honored as the Freshman of the Year, senior Michaela Lanier capped off her cross country career by winning the Elite 26 Award for highest GPA in the conference, and head coach Cameron Stober won the Coach of the Year Award.
 
From Coach Stober:
"I'm really proud of both teams. For our women, we knew going into the season that we had a good shot at repeating as conference champs. But we knew that it wouldn't be easy and that nothing was guaranteed.This season hasn't gone the way we would've hoped in a lot of ways. We've had a lot of injuries and sickness. But our ladies worked through the adversity and our depth really helped us out today. It's hard to have the target your back, but our ladies remained hungry and humble throughout the course of the season. They've worked hard and have continued to handle themselves with class. Our women's team is one of two teams in NGU history to repeat as conference champions. That's a huge accomplishment.
 
I'm thankful for all that have contributed to our team's success. First and foremost, I'm grateful to God for his blessing and provision. Secondly, I'm thankful for these athletes. They are a blessing from the Lord.They work hard, are great young people, and they represent this team and our university with class.Thirdly, I'm grateful for all of those that do so much behind the scenes. Our graduate assistant, Kylie Futrell has done so much for this program and I'm so thankful for all of her contributions to this program…both as an athlete and as a coach. Lydia Binder, our athletic trainer,