FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas' women overcame a top-heavy performance by Alabama to win its eighth consecutive SEC cross country championship Friday in Baton Rouge, La.
The Razorbacks' top five runners — Lauren Gregory, Logan Morris, Abby Gray, Taylor Ewert and Krissy Gear — finished 4-7-9-10-11 to score 41 points, 16 ahead of the runner-up Crimson Tide.
Meghan Underwood and Corey Smith finished 15th and 16th for the Razorbacks but did not score.
Lauren Gregory led Arkansas with a 6,000-meter time of 20:06.6. Gregory was the Razorbacks' only returning scorer from its team that won the SEC and NCAA championships last season.
"We're really pleased," Arkansas coach Lance Harter said. "Losing some of these seniors, there is always a huge question mark, but these kids stepped right in to fill that void. To have seven in the top 16, that's more than anybody could have dreamed of for a coach.
"Abby Gray got it started today and made that race honest for everyone. We just got some talent from some other schools that came and mixed us up a little bit, but the ultimate goal is to have five across the line before everybody else and we were able to do that today quite successfully."
Alabama's Mercy Chelengat was the individual champion with a time 19:46.5, and the Crimson Tide had three of the top six runners. Alabama lacked the depth of Arkansas, though, and its fourth and fifth runners finished 22nd and 23rd.
Kentucky's Jenna Gearing closed strong in the final 1,000 meters to finish second overall and Missouri's Sarah Chapman was third.
The team win was Arkansas' 21st in 30 SEC meets. Including the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons the Razorbacks have won 19 of the past 21 SEC team championships in sports coached by Harter.
Friday's conference championship was Harter's 39th at Arkansas. The 16-point margin of victory was the Razorbacks' slimmest during their championship streak.
"I think what we're really pleased about is this whole group comes back and we have a great freshman class coming in next year," Harter said. "The future is very, very bright."