Antonneau races to Division I collegiate victory

Division I

Marian University flexed their muscles handily taking first and second place in the Division I women's race. Racine, Wisconsin's Kaitlin Antonneau and her Marian teammate, multi-time junior national champion Coryn Rivera, distanced themselves from the start. Antonneau was able to open a small gap on her teammate after a bobble on the first lap forced Rivera off course.

"I was just going to play it by ear, but then she (Rivera) made a mistake and I just pushed on," explained Antonneau post-race.

Emily Shields of rival Lees-McRae finished nearly three minutes behind Rivera for bronze. Fort Lewis College's Sarah Sturm came in next and Katherine Shields (Lees-McRae College) joined her teammate, and twin sister, on the podium in fifth. Beginning what will be a fierce battle for the team title, Marian University, Lees-McRae and Fort Lewis locked up all of the race's first 13 places.

Division II

Rebecca Gross (University of Denver) bolted right from the gun, flying through her first of four laps in 13:01, but Mariske Strauss (Mars Hill College) was just 16 seconds behind. Strauss and Gross dueled throughout the race. Heading into the last lap, Gross held a narrow nine-second advantage. Strauss swapped a muddy bike for a "squeaky clean" two wheeler to chase Gross down. The swap worked as Strauss traversed the course in 11:21, which was 22 seconds faster than Gross to prevail with an overall time of 47:22, 13 seconds faster than Gross.

"At the tape zone she (Gross) wiped out and I took the gap and just put the hammer down from there," Strauss said. "So it was quite a nice cat-and-mouse game going on. It was well done. It was a great race and a great track out there today."