Lady Railsplitter Cross Country Team Ends Season At NCAA National Meet

PENSACOLA, FL – The Lincoln Memorial University women’s cross country team ended its season Saturday morning in Pensacola, Florida in what turned out to be the biggest race of each team members' lives.

The Lady Railsplitters joined twenty-three other teams from across the country and an unspecified number of individuals to compete for the NCAA National Championship.  While the LMU women didn’t win the race or even place as one of the top-10 teams, there was no doubt by the end of the 6K race that each had given their best effort.

As a team, the Lady Railsplitters finished twenty-fourth out of the twenty-four teams that participated.  As individuals however, each of the Lincoln Memorial University runners set new personal career records for the 6K distance. 

Running against the best of the best, LMU’s All-South Atlantic Conference Cherie Kern (Knoxville, TN) finished 139^th overall with a time of 23:48.4.  Teammate Emily Burke (Ewing, VA) pushed Kern, finishing only five spots back in 144^th place with a time of 23:55.5.

Running in her first national meet, LMU dual sport athlete Helena Sokolova (Kosice, Slovakia) crossed the finish line in 149^th place with a 24:15.9, while Jennifer Ely (Jonesville, VA) was 152^nd with a time of 24:40.5.

Michelle Ratliff (Jonesborough, TN) finished the race in 24:58.4 to place 156^th, while another dual sport athlete, Kathleen Rollett (Bouge Chambalud, France) was 162^nd and crossed the line in 26:15.1.  LMU’s Deidre Ratliff (Jonesborough, TN) completed the race in a time of 26:21.2 to finish closely behind Rollett in 163^rd place.