HARDEEVILLE, S.C.- The Ave Maria University cross country teams qualified four runners for the NAIA National Championships, thanks to their performances at Saturday's Sun Conference Championships in Hardeeville, South Carolina. The women will be represented by Theresa Long, Felicity Foxhoven, and Lily Burke at Nationals, while Joseph Perreault will make his third consecutive appearance on the men's side.

The women raced first on Saturday morning, and the Gyrenes placed two runners among the top five. Long ran the 5k course in 18:42.5 to place third in the conference, while Foxhoven followed at 19:14.7 to take fifth. Both runners earned First Team All-Sun Conference honors by finishing in the top seven, while Foxhoven was named SUN Freshman of the Year by being the top newcomer in the race.

A third Gyrene runner, Lily Burke, earned Second Team All-Conference honors, given to runners placing eighth through 14th. Burke also earned a spot in the national championship race following the event. The sophomore placed 12th at 19:53.4, and was the final of 12 runners to run the Hardeeville course in under 20 minutes. The women's individual champion was Southeastern's Julia Rohm, who topped her nearest competitor by almost 30 seconds. Led by five of the top ten finishers, SCAD-Savannah earned the team title.

On the men's side, Joseph Perreault will head back to nationals. The junior placed fifth with a time of 25:19.5 on a course that was shorter than the full 8,000 meters, leading to times more than a minute faster than most runners' personal bests. Perreault's fifth place finish was enough for him to earn First Team All-Sun Conference recognition for the third year in a row. 

Two more Gyrenes earned Second Team accolades, including a run that allowed AMU to sweep Freshman of the Year Awards. Samuel Paga earned a top ten finish in his first conference championship, crossing the finish line at 25:36.0 to earn the league's top newcomer award. He was joined on the second team by his brother Adam, who placed 12th at 25:46.1. Southeastern easily claimed the team title, led by individual champion John Perez-Dunn.

In addition to the awards on the course, 12 Gyrenes were named Academic All-Conference, an honor given to student-athletes that have been enrolled for two full semesters or more, and have a cumulative of at least a 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 GPA scale. The following runners earned Academic All-Conference honors: David Adamitis, Ethan Bald, Christopher Hermann, Erik Minter, Adam Paga, Thomas Walter, Anita Blanchard, Lillian Brodeur, Lillian Burke, Carol Long, Emma Perrault, Allison Schroeder
 
Long, Foxhoven, Burke, and Perreault will now compete in the NAIA National Championships, held in just under two weeks in Tallahassee, Florida, where the Gyrenes have already competed once this season. The 2022 championships mark the seventh consecutive season in which at least one Gyrene will run in Nationals. Long becomes the fourth Gyrene to mark consecutive nationals appearances, and Perreault becomes the third to do it three times.