SALEM, Va. — The 20th-ranked Washington and Lee women's cross country team took the Top 3 individual spots en route to running away with the 2019 ODAC Championship on Saturday at Greenville Park. The victory marked the fifth straight conference title for the Blue & White and the 19th overall.
 
The Generals totaled 20 points to claim the victory, clearing second-place finishing Lynchburg (73 points) by 53 points. Shenandoah was third with 87 points. The 20 points is the second-lowest winning total in program history and tied for the third-lowest in conference history. W&L holds the ODAC record, when it won the 1994 championship with 15 points.
 
The 53-point spread was also the largest margin of victory in league history. The previous record was a 51-point win by Lynchburg in 1998.
 
Sophomore Sara Stephenson (Weston, Mass./The Rivers School) was the individual winner out of 99 runners, crossing the finish line on the 6k course in a career-best time of 22:00.40. With her placing, she earned the ODAC's Runner and Rookie of the Meet accolades.
 
Senior Julia Moody (Houston, Texas/St. John's School) was right behind Stephenson in second (22:01.80) and junior Katie Harris (Ashburn, Va./Rock Ridge) finished third in 22:07.30. Senior Katie Bearup (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) placed fifth with a time of 22:17.80. Stephenson, Moody, Harris and Bearup all earned First Team All-ODAC honors by finishing in the Top 7.
 
Sophomore Avery Schiffman (New Vernon, N.J./The Pingry School) rounded out the scoring in ninth (22:38.00). She was joined on the All-ODAC Second Team by sophomore Didi Pace (Centreville, Va./Westfield) and first-year Nina Gallagher (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown STEM Academy).
 
Pace took 10th in 22:45.00 and Gallagher claimed 14th with a time of 23:03.00. First-year Carolyn Todd (Cumberland Foreside, Maine/Greely) missed all-conference recognition by one spot, finishing 15th (23:03.00). In all, the Generals took 14 of the Top 25 spots at the meet.
 
Stephenson is the first individual champion for W&L since Jessica Shaw '09 won the league meet in 2008 and it is the 11th time a General has accomplished the feat. This marks back-to-back Rookie of the Meet honors for W&L, as sophomore Sarah Hollen (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra Area) garnered the award last year. Stephenson joins Jackie Burns '09 and Lindsay Erickson '08 as the only W&L runners to win the league meet in their rookie seasons.
 
The seven All-ODAC honorees tied the program record, which was last achieved in 2008. The four first-team all-conference award winners was one off the program record of five set in 1994. The five straight ODAC titles ties the program record. The Blue and White also won five straight from 2004-08.
 
The Generals return to action at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional hosted by Rhodes on November 16.