An unconventional formula helped the Webster University women's cross country team to the second conference championship in school history. Five Gorloks earned a spot on the all-conference team, including four on the first team, both setting school records.
 
After finishing second at last year's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) championship, Webster subsequently graduated its top runner, one of the fastest in school history. For this season, the Gorloks welcomed back two senior all-conference performers, while asking freshmen and sophomores to fill the remaining five spots in its eventual post-season lineup.
 
That formula crystalized into a SLIAC team championship, joining Webster's 2011 title. The icing on the cake today was season-best performances from all 10 Gorlok runners and career-best times from nine of them.
 
Webster received the following SLIAC honors:

All-Conference First Team	Holly Goergen (Sr., Phoenix, AZ / Shadow Mountain)
All-Conference First Team	Meghan Illig (Sr. , St. Louis, MO / Lindbergh)
All-Conference First Team	Lauren Coleman (Fr., St. Peters, MO / Francis Howell Central)
All-Conference First Team	Meredith Sowers (So., Rolla, MO / Rolla)
All-Conference Second Team	Kalleigh Linthicum (Fr., Lake St. Louis, MO / Timberland)
Newcomer of Year	Lauren Coleman (Fr., St. Peters, MO / Francis Howell Central)
All-Sportsmanship Team	Meredith Sowers (So., Rolla, MO / Rolla)
Team Sportsmanship Award	Webster University
Coach of Year	Dan Graber

          
Runners finishing among the top seven individuals overall automatically land on the first team while the next seven runners are placed on the second team. Webster had four all-SLIAC honorees in 2011 and three first-team performers in 2011, 2015 and 2016.
 
Goergen becomes the second Gorlok ever to make the all-conference team four times. This is her third time on the first team, making her one of four individuals in school history to achieve this feat.
 
Goergen finished third today in a field of 55 runners with a career-best time of 23 minutes and 17 seconds for the 6,000-meter course. Her time is the third best in school history for any 6k race.
 
Illig finished fourth overall to join her teammate in the quartet of Gorloks with three first-team berths in their career. She placed sixth and seventh in the prior two conference meets.
 
Illig was timed in 23:32, a career-best mark. Her time is the sixth best by a Gorlok in any race at this distance, and fifth best in a SLIAC championship event.
 
Coleman is the second Webster runner ever chosen for the conference Newcomer of the Year award. She joins Valerie Martin, who was the 2014 honoree.

Coleman broke the school freshman record for a 6k race with her time of 23:39, good for fifth place. The time is the 11th best by any Gorlok at this distance and seventh best ever at the conference championships.
 
Sowers continued her season progression with a seventh-place finish overall, fourth among her teammates. She began the season as Webster's No. 6 runner, based on her performance, moved up to No. 5 for the next three races, then to No. 4 in the meet prior to this one. Last season, Sowers was No. 8 on the squad in late September but steadily worked her way up to the No. 3 spot at the team's final meet, the NCAA regional championships.
 
Today, Sowers registered a career-best mark of 23:43, which is 13th fastest on Webster's all-time list of top times for this distance. The time is ninth best ever by a Gorlok at the SLIAC meet.
 
Linthicum placed 12th at 24:36, a personal-best time. Her time is the seventh best in school history for a Webster freshman in a 6k race.
 
Minnell Fundora (Fr., Miami, FL / John A. Ferguson) was 17th with a personal best of 25:12, which is the 14th fastest ever by a Gorlok freshman at this distance.
 
Rounding out the top seven, which composes a team's official lineup for scoring purposes, was Savannah Brewer (So., Flagstaff, AZ / Coconino). She placed 19th overall at 25:22, erasing her previous career-best time by nearly two minutes.
 
The team title boiled down to a two-team competition with Greenville, winner of two of the past three championships. Each team scores its top five finishers. Among their respective No. 1, 2 and 5 finishers, Webster and Greenville tied with 19 points.
 
Webster's No. 3 and 4 finishers, Coleman and Sowers, outscored their counterparts 12-19 (low score wins). Thus, Webster captured the title with a seven-point margin, 31-38, thanks in part to a freshman (Coleman) and sophomore (Sowers). The Gorloks improved their team score by 23 points from last season's runner-up finish.
 
Webster's 2011 championship squad won with a team score of 40. That squad averaged 24:46 for its top five runners, while this year's team averaged 23:45. [Note: The conference meet rotates to different courses each year.]
 
Other Webster runners today, all with season-best times, were Jessica Phibbs (So., Vancouver, WA / Mountain View), Megan Schramm (So., Rochelle, IL / Rochelle), and Jessica Aguilar-Adan (Jr., Las Vegas, NV / Valley).
 
Phibbs, who was 21st, lowered her career-best mark by almost a minute. Schramm, who was 25th, bettered her personal-best by almost two minutes.

Webster returns to action in two weeks at the NCAA regional championships in Rock Island, IL. Each competing school will be limited to seven entrants. Webster was 28th out of 38 teams at last year's regional meet.
 
Gorlok Giblets: Heather Heisse (2010-13) was the first Webster runner ever to attain four all-conference berths, three of them on the first team … Goergen and Illig join Heisse and Valerie Martin (2014-16) as Webster's three-time honorees on the all-SLIAC first team … The top two times in the Webster record book for a 6k race were both achieved at the SLIAC championships. Heisse ran 22:37 at the 2013 meet, and Martin ran 23:07 in 2015 … Webster's four all-conference honorees in 2011 were Julie Greenough, Heisse, Jane McKibben and Eroica Stackhouse. The first three made the first team ... Graber joins Dusty Lopez (2011) as Webster coaches chosen as SLIAC Coach of the Year.