Race Results
BRONX, N.Y. -- Longwood University senior
Alisha Royal|Vinton (William Byrd) earned prestigious All-East honors for the second-straight year with her sixth place individual finish among 177 runners at the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Royal posted a 5K time of 18:36 that equals the sixth-fastest 5K in the program's 12-year history, ironically, run by Royal a year ago at the same event that was good for seventh place in 2011. Bethany Sachteben of George Mason University won the race with her time of 18:04, and Sacred Heart University took the team title among 19 teams with its 73 points. Longwood did not participate in the championships as a team, as the 2012 campaign is now complete.
Royal led Longwood in all six races this season while adding four more all-time top-10 5Ks. She ran the third-fastest 5K with her 18:25 at the Big South Championships, tied the fourth-fastest 5K with her 18:34 ran at the Great American Cross Country Festival, matched the sixth-fastest today and posted the 10th-fastest 5K (18:49) at the Blue Ridge Open. Royal set a new school record in the 6K last week at the NCAA Southeast Regional with her time of 22:02, and has the two fastest times in program history at that distance, including a 22:21 run at last year's NCAA regional. In addition last year, she established a new school record for the 5K (18:22) while leading the team in each of the six races she ran -- capping it with her impressive ECAC All-East honor. Her record 5K was posted at the Charlotte Invitational, one second faster than her own previous record of 18:23 ran at the adidas Cross Country Challenge. Royal's 18:47 at the Blue Ridge Open a year ago ties as the eighth-best all-time, as she now owns eight of the all-time 10 fastest 5Ks at Longwood.
