COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
Nia Clatworthy,
Inca Padfield,
Cara Inch, and
Freddy Richardson all were named NCAA All-Region for their top 25 finishes at the NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional Championships held on the Dale Watts '71 Cross Country Course in College Station. The Lamar women took seventh place with 171 points while the men claimed 14th with 397 points.
It was a clean sweep for Arkansas, who won the men's (33 points) and women's (80 points) team titles as well as the having race winners in Paityn Noe (18:55.8) for the women and Kirami Yego (29:09.4) for the men.
The women opened the day with the 6k meet as Clatworthy clocked in a time of 19:52.9 to post 14th. She started the race in contention and at the 2.8k mark, the Porthcawl, Wales native was in fifth. Clatworthy maintained a top-10 spot for the next two kilometers before dropping back to 14th, becoming the second Southland Conference runner to cross behind Mercy Kipchumba (Stephen F. Austin).
Inca Padfield (20:08.0) edged out teammate
Cara Inch (20:08.01) by one-tenth of a second to round out the top 20.
Annabel Hobday reached the finish line 47th at 20:51.7.
Emma Powell completed her race in 70th at 21:16.4 while
Ashton Rainey (78th; 21:24.4) and
Mykayla Mims (137th; 22:26.8) concluded the women's meet for LU.
For the women, they finished in the top 10 in all five of their meets this season including a couple of firsts, and were also repeat champions in the SLC Championship meet. Five of the runners were recognized for their outstanding season in Clatworthy (SLC Runner of the Week, SLC Silver Medalist, SLC First Team), Hobday (SLC Second Team), Inch (SLC First Team), Padfield (SLC Second Team, SLC Newcomer of the Year), and Powell (SLC Second Team).
The men followed up with the 10k meet as Richardson was the top Cardinal runner by placing 12th at 29:49.2 (PR). Richardson was inside the top 10 after the 2k mark but was 16th at the 6.3k mark. With one final surge, he gained back four spots to edge out SLC champion Elkana Kipruto (SFA) by three-tenths of a second. Richardson was the third SLC runner to cross behind Dominic Kiptum (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) and Griffin Neal (UIW).
Lloyd Sheppard-Brown finished 44th at 31:06.2.
Adrian Hahn Vadstein clocked in at 32:20.3 for 102nd while
Alexis Rodriguez (32:45.0),
Andres Padron (33:25.6), and
Riley Trent (34:20.6) occupied 120th, 145th, 164th respectively.
This was the fourth top-10 finish for the men this season. The Cardinals posted a sixth-place finish at the SLC Championships and both Richardson (SLC First Team) and Sheppard-Brown (SLC Second Team) were given all-conference honors.
