COMING UP: at NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships, Friday, Tallahassee, Fla. – Women's 6,000-meters, 5:30 a.m.
 
RACE DAY INFORMATION: The NAIA Championships will be streamed via the NAIA Network, with Live Timing through Prime Time Timing.
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE: The Lady Owls will have one athlete, All-Cascade Conference competitor, Saundra Parsons, competing in the 6,000-meter event. Parsons will be one of 393 runners in the field, which includes 36 teams that qualified via their conference meets or as an at-large selection, or athletes that finished in the Top-15 of their conference meet and were not on a team selected for the Championships. The Top-40 finishers in the event will be named NAIA All-Americans.
 
ABOUT THE COURSE: Apalachee Regional Park and the cross country trail was made possible by Florida State University and Leon County Parks and Recreation – designed to give runners the opportunity to run on several types of surfaces. The venue hosted the 2021 NCAA Division I National Championships and the 2022 NAIA National Championships and features grass, crushed shell and dirt surfaces – along with tree-lined scenery.
 
HISTORY: OIT has qualified a team to the NAIA Championships nine times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023), recording three Top-10 finishes, including winning the 2018 national title. The Lady Owls have sent individual competitors eight times (1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2022, 2025), with six Tech runners earning All-America honors (Elissa Stoltz, Mary Matchett, Susie Garza, Danielle DeCastro, Cindy Reed, Faith Widman).
 
MORE ON PARSONS: Saundra Parsons has led the Lady Owls in the three meets she has competed in – including a time of 22:00 over the six-kilometer distance at the George Oja Invite, placing 36th overall. The junior finished 13th at the Cascade Conference Championships, earning All-CCC honors.