CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. – Gabrielle Velez and Hailie LaMar put on a show in their final cross country race of the season at the NAIA XC Championships.
 
With both Velez and LaMar eyeing their first national championship appearance, the duo looked to battle a sloppy course and windy conditions.
 
After battling neck and neck all season, the senior-freshman duo found themselves within seconds of each other throughout much of the race to lead all of the Mid-South Conference individual qualifiers.
 
Coming through the mile around the 6:00 mark, the pair was able to run a fairly evenly split race to break away with huge career bests.
 
Velez ultimately led LaMar as she was able to come away with a 19 second personal best to finish 77^th overall, becoming just the third Lady Tiger in program history to break the 19-minute barrier. Velez officially was able to mark an 18:57 to close out the year.
 
The MSC Freshman of the Year, LaMar did not lag far behind however. LaMar mapped out her own personal best mark by 35 seconds to finish in 19:09. LaMar used the mark to break into the top 100 in the meet as she came away in 99^thplace overall.
 
With the performances, Velez and LaMar will close the year as the third and fourth fastest individuals in program history.
 
Emma Wilson of Huntington quickly ran away from the field as she used a 17:02 to win the individual title of the 327-person field, while St. Francis (Ill.) used a team average of 18:26 to score 111 points to capture the team championship.
 
Velez and LaMar will now turn their attention to the track as they will look to compete in the Campbellsville Tiger Invite on April 16^th.