Final Women's Results | Final Men's Results

THE RUNDOWN
CANYON, Texas – In just their second-ever team appearance in the NCAA South Central Region Championships, St. Edward's University's women's cross country team placed 12th Saturday at the Range, bettering its performance from last year's 23rd-place finish.

Junior Rachel Frei ran the second-best 6K time of her career and placed 40th overall with a time 22:55.71, while senior Kirsten DeFrance finished just behind at 22:57.92 for a 43rd-place finish. Keomi Hamlin checked in at 84th-place crossing with a time of 23:57.52, while Amelia Barrett set a personal-best 6K time with a 24:02.58 and an 86th-place finish.

The women's field featured 183 student-athletes and Adams State was the regional champion. Among Heartland Conference teams in the meet, SEU placed second with only Dallas Baptist finishing better at fifth place.

In the first 10K race of the season for the men, the Hilltoppers struggled, placing 27th out of 28 teams. Junior John Daniels ran a time of 34:32.26 to place 113th, and freshman Josh Akin was next at 161st with a time of 36:54.12. The men's race featured 189 runners and Adams State took the regional title; Dallas Baptist placed sixth as the highest Heartland Conference finisher.

HIGHLIGHTS
• The SEU women finished a program-best 12th place at the NCAA South Central Region Championships, bettering its previous-best finish of 23rd in 2016.
• The Hilltoppers women were the second-best finisher among Heartland Conference schools.
• Rachel Frei and Kirsten DeFrance placed in the top 50 at 40th and 43rd respectively. In another record-shattering season for Frei, the one-year runner, DeFrance, joined her in re-writing the school record book in 2017. Frei finished with the first and third-best 6K times in school history in 2017 while DeFrance collected the second and fifth-best 6K time. Saturday's time for Frei was the third-best 6K time in school history while DeFrance's effort at regionals was fifth-best.
• Amelia Barrett's 24:02.58 was a personal best.

STAT OF THE MEET I
4 – Rachel Frei and Kirsten DeFrance combined for four of the top-5 best 6K times in school history in 2017 including Saturday's race, which saw Frei take the third-best 6K time (22:55.7) and DeFrance take the fifth-best (22:57.92).

THEY SAID IT
SEU Head Coach David Chandler the close to the 2017 season …
"It was good to finish out on a high note for the women today. We didn't have the perfect race, but we made a significant step towards becoming a national-level program. I'm proud of the men as well, we just need to work on finishing better."

WHAT'S NEXT
Saturday's race concluded the 2017 season for the men and women.