TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Alyssa Johnson repeated as an All-American as she propelled the Southern Oregon women's cross country team to a 12th place finish at the NAIA Championships on Friday morning at Apalachee Regional Park.

Johnson completed the 6,000-meter course in 21 minutes 35.7 seconds to place 10th – besting last year's 32nd place finish –and becoming just the third woman in Raider history to earn multiple cross country All-America honors. 

She crossed in 20th place at the 3,000 meter mark in 10:44 before moving up 10 spots over the next 1,000 meters and battling for position the rest of the way. 

 "It felt great to get 10th," said Johnson. "It was nice to see all of the work I've put in this season pay off and to see the improvement from last year too."  

Sophomore Sophia Stubblefield ran the second best time of her career, placing 58th in 22:23 to help SOU score 409 points in the team standings. The two freshmen finished next. Alaina Casady turned in a top-100 finish, placing 84th in 22:44 and Emily Picard took 115th with a personal best time of 23:01. 

"I'm impressed with both teams," said head coach Grier Gatlin. "It's always gratifying to place better than your ranking." The Raiders were ranked between No. 17 and No. 23 throughout the entirety of the season. 

The Raiders were 20th in the team standings at the 3,000-meter split, but Casady and Picard passed a collective 148 runners by the end to sway the team score ahead. 

"The team ran consistently and moved up the entire race. To have patience in a large field like this is really difficult to execute and to have two frosh do that was impressive," said Gatlin. 

Junior Mercedes Harms rounded out SOU's scoring, placing 260th in 24:42. Natalie Sandeen was 270th (24:58) and Ashley Jentzsch was 276th (25:03). 

The team finished as the second best team in the Cascade Conference behind College of Idaho who took fifth (233). Eastern Oregon placed 22nd (569) and Lewis-Clark (Idaho) was 26th (601). 

Taylor (Ind.) won the team title with 90 points behind individual winner and repeat champion Jaynie Halterman (20:13) who bested second place by 30 seconds. 

Johnson is just the second woman in SOU history to score a top-10 finish at the national stage. "I'm very happy for Alyssa," said Gatlin. "Top 10 is a special thing and she worked really hard all year." 

WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS (Top 15) – 1. Taylor (Ind.) 90, 2. Milligan (Tenn.) 109, 3. Dordt (Iowa) 136, 4. The Master's (Calif.) 232, 5. College of Idaho 233, 6. Marian (Ind.) 277, 7. Cornerstone (Mich.), 8. Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 353, 9. Saint Mary (Kan.) 357, 10. Grace (Ind.), 11. Indiana Wesleyan 380, 12. Southern Oregon 409, 13. Cumberlands (Ky.) 412, 14. Oklahoma City 427, 15. Kansas Wesleyan 432

SOU WOMEN'S 6K RESULTS (of 333 total entries)
10. Alyssa Johnson, 21:35.7
58. Sophia Stubblefield, 22:23
84. Alaina Casady, 22:44.3
115. Emily Picard, 23:01.7
260. Mercedes Harms, 24:42.4
270. Natalie Sandeen, 24:58.4
276. Ashley Jentzsch, 25:03.7