DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Saint Leo women's cross country took home third place at the 2018 Sunshine State Conference Championship race with 71 total points on a brisk morning on the East Coast.
 
Ashley Lindeman's seventh place finish paced the Green and Gold in a time of 22:48.60, where the Lions saw four runners, including Lindeman, finish inside the top-11. 

"We knew it was going to be a battle coming into both races today," head coach Kent Reiber mentioned. "We're happy with our finish, but not satisfied. We'll put in a solid two weeks of training and fight for a spot to nationals."

Reiber went on to add, "We were only 18 points away from tying for first place. It's going to be tight, but in a bigger race I'll take our ladies everytime."
 
Laura Tobin (9th, 22:53.32) and Paige Patterson (10th, 22:55.55) broke into the top-10 with Lindeman where Alyssa Bayliff was on the outside looking in, in 11th place at 23:00.93.
 
Noemi Anaya placed 37th in a time of 24:24.87 to round out the top-40 finishers out of the 83 runners. Behind Anaya, Saint Leo saw Aoife Mahony (41st, 24:54.32), Sage Lyons (50th, 25:53.43), Rebecca Myers (58th, 26:56.48), Heidi-Jay Churchill (59th, 27:02.82), Izabella Van Den Berg (73rd, 31:09.01), and Anapaula Rios Rosales (74th, 31:24.15) all finish the 6K course on the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus.
 
Tampa took home the team title by three points over Embry-Riddle, 53 to 56, where the Spartans tallied a team time of 1:54:35.
 
Saint Leo will look to the NCAA South Region Championship on Nov. 17 in Lakeland, Fla. at Holloway Park.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on Saint Leo men's and women's cross country and track sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.