Tarleton women claim first LSC cross country championship

TexAnns win — Tarleton head coach Pat Ponder and the Tarleton women won their first team title in 22 years as members of the Lone Star Conference Monday, and Ponder was named LSC Women's Coach of the Year on Friday. || Photo courtesy CHET MARTIN

By BRAD KEITH

TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL

STEPHENVILLE (October 26, 2015) — For the first time in 22 years as a member of the Lone Star Conference, Tarleton State is league champions in women’s cross country.

Led by individual conference champ Aly Coughlin, Tarleton held off Eastern New Mexico by a single point to claim its first LSC title at Tejas Golf Course in Stephenville Monday morning.

Coughlin finished the six kilometer women’s course in 21 minutes, 58.2 seconds, 47.6 seconds faster than second-place Terra Truitt of Texas A&M-Commerce. Katelin Huckabee of Tarleton finished third in 22:59.0 to give Tarleton a big lead.

It was never close for Coughlin, who led wire to wire. She was 50 meters ahead by the 1K mark and continued to pull away. By the 2K mark no one was within shouting distance at more than 100 meters behind the senior. She stretched the lead to more than 200 meters shortly after the halfway point and cruised in for the easy victory on a grass course that circled itself and used pretty much every bit of the nine-hole golf facility.

Coughlin discusses her win and later speaks about the team title in exclusive interviews with The Flash:

Eastern New Mexico came charging back by finishing seventh, 12th, 15th and 17th, but Tarleton runners Haley Dennard and Tylo Farrar were 18th and 19th in 23:57.0 and 24:01 to seal up the win.

Audrey Shelton finished 29th for Tarleton and Ande Carlton was 44th.

The Texans placed second behind West Texas A&M in the men’s race. Tarleton was led by Tye Doty in third in 25:31.7, but WTAMU had the top two finishers in Geoffrey Kipchumba (25:03.0) and Blake Whalen (25:09.90).

Chase Rathke was sixth for Tarleton in 25:57.3, Thorne Pettigrew took ninth in 26:14.0, Brandon Lacy 13th in 26:27.4, Luke Scribner 14th in 26:29.1 and Peyton Heinig 31st in 27:44.0.

Both teams advance to the South Central Region meet hosted by West Texas A&M on Saturday, November 7, in Canyon.

Tarleton head coach Pat Ponder discusses his first conference championship in 22 years as a college cross country coach in an exclusive interview here: