John Brown junior Allika Pearson ran a personal record time of 17 minutes, 46 seconds and finished fifth overall Friday at the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships hosted at Seminole Valley Cross Country Course in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The finish garnered Pearson the JBU women's program's first-ever NAIA Cross Country All-America honors.
Pearson, a Siloam Springs native, shaved 1:24 from her time in the 2019 national championships.
Emma Wilson of Huntington finished first overall at 17:02.86, followed by Sierra Poppell of Kentucky Christian (17:38.67), Becca Richtman of Montana Tech (17:42.02) and Ariana Anderson of Embry-Riddle Arizona (17:42.09).
Earlier in the week, Pearson was named the South Central Region Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the organization announced on Monday (April 5) afternoon.
Pearson was undefeated during the regular season and captured the top podium spot in all four races, most recently earning the individual title at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships with an 18:08 finish on March 27. At the time, the mark not only set a new PR for Pearson, but again notched a new program record time.
The product of Siloam Springs also earned top finishes at the Oklahoma City – John Brown Dual Meet, the Columbia (Mo.) Cougar Winter Classic and the Columbia (Mo.) Spring Fling.
"It's great to see Allika being recognized for her success this year," head coach Scott Schochler said. She has put in a tremendous amount of work, paid attention to the details, and been incredibly smart about racing and training – that makes her a dream athlete to a coach. More than that, she is a great teammate and even better person. Those attributes make it incredibly fun to watch her perform so incredibly well."
In the men's national championship race Friday, JBU runner Ben Martin finished 126th overall with a time of 26:32.09.