ROLLA - Drury sophomore Jaime Villa Zapatero grabbed the lead with about one mile left and never let go of it, finishing strong to claim the Great Lakes Valley Conference men's cross country championship at the Missouri S & T Golf Course here on Saturday.
Zapatero finished in 25:47.83 to win by nearly eight seconds over runner-up Drew Harris, a sophomore from Northern Kentucky, and help the Panthers to a third-place team finish. Southern Indiana won the meet with 26 points, while Northern Kentucky was second with 63 and Drury third at 66 in the 10-team field.
Derek Berry, a sophomore, finished seventh and junior Geoff Hughes came in 12th to aid the Panthers' cause in the team chase.
In the women's race, junior Stephanie Cowherd finished 40th individually to help Drury to a seventh-place team finish. Southern Indiana won the women's title as well with 39 points, with Wisconsin-Parkside second at 64 points. Parkside senior Jessica Monson ran away with the individual title with a time of 20:43.56, nearly 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Mary Ballinger of USI>
Freshman Katie Berkbigler finished 43rd and sophomore Tia Young was 49th for Drury.
Men's results
Women's results
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