NSU Pre-Conference Meet results package

NATCHITOCHES -- The Northwestern State Lady Demons and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs were runaway winners Monday at the NSU Pre-Conference Meet cross country competition, with NSU freshman Jacqueline Rushford rolling to a 6,000-meter victory in the women's race while Tech's Taylor Ashton fought off teammate Josh Pearce down the stretch in the 8,000-meter men's contest at the Walter P. Ledet Track Complex.

Rushford picked up her second individual win this season in the longest race of the year. She also won at Louisiana Tech's Mook5 on Sept. 20 over 5,000 meters and helped the Lady Demons post a team triumph, their first of 2014.
 
Her 27:06.90 time was almost 35 seconds faster than the next best, 27:41.20 by teammate Erin Sitarz. Ashley Adams gave NSU third in 28:06.10 and twin sister Emily Sitarz ran fourth in 28:17.70. A fifth freshman, Annie Fillers, completed the Lady Demon scoring with a seventh-place 29:55.70.
 
"We kept our pack together, going 1-4 and we had a decent gap time for them (1:10)," said NSU cross country coach Nathanial McReynolds. "Overall, we learned what a 6K is today. You can run a 5K but adding that extra distance, you find out how to gut out a race. I was very pleased with their performance in our first 6K of the season."
 
NSU posted a near-perfect score of 17. Louisiana Tech freshman Haley Berg (fifth, 28:36.20) and Grambling junior Faith Early (sixth, 29:35.90) spoiled NSU's bid for a 15. The Lady Demons ran without another standout freshman, Erin Wrozek, who was ill but has been either first or second on the scorecard in three prior competitions this fall.
 
Grambling was second in the women's standings (53 points), followed by Louisiana Tech (60), LSU-Shreveport (103), Louisiana College (127) and Jarvis Christian (131).
 
Tech won the men's competition with 16 points, followed by NSU (49), Grambling (78), LC (129) and LSUS (also 129).
 
Another NSU freshman, Josh Wilkins, was the top Demons' finisher and the only non-Louisiana Tech runner in the top six, denying the Bulldogs a perfect score in the men's race. Wilkins ran fifth in 28:24.90.
 
NSU teammates Jeremy Elliott, a junior who ran ninth in 29:18.90, and Grant Butts, a freshman taking 10^th in 29:32.50, helped the Demons finish second in the men's team standings. Completing the NSU scorecard was freshman Hunter Warmack (13^th, 30:11.0) and sophomore Skylor Reese (16^th, 31:57.70).
 
The other Demons finishing were freshman Tyler Corwin (20^th, 33:45.0) and sophomore Miles Brown (23rd, 34:49.00).
 
"Welcome to cross country running. The 8K is a different animal and they tackled it not with grace, but with guts, and that's how you have to run this race. Again, I was very excited by their effort and competitiveness," said McReynolds. "The times go out the window because the course was so sloppy today after the rain this morning. We're looking at overall performance from the athlete and I liked what we saw today."
 
Tech's Ashton won the men's race in 27:07.60, three seconds in front of his teammate Pearce.
 
Northwestern will run again on Friday, Oct. 17 at Lafayette in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational and hosts the Southland Conference Championships on Monday, Nov. 3.