Academy of Art University Athletics

Academy of Art women's cross country junior Grace Southern delivered a 6k race to remember at the Cougar Challenge, breaking the program's record by three seconds.

In action for the third race of her ART U career on Sept. 23, Southern maintained top positioning throughout the race, checking in at third midway through before ultimately taking fourth out of the 184-runner field at 20:58.6. The result made her the best Pacific West Conference finisher in the meet and bettered the program record originally held by the Urban Knights' first All-American Jenny Bergren who went 21:01.6 at NCAA Division II Nationals in 2012.

"Today I wanted to go out a little faster than I'm comfortable with because Coach [Bruce] Jackson and I felt I was too conservative the last two meets I've ran," Southern said. "Around 4k into the race, I was feeling the fatigue start to creep in, but with the encouragement of my coaches and faith in my training, I kept pushing to keep my position. I'm very happy with the risks I took at the beginning of the race and how I was able to hold on. Running sub-21 minutes was not on my agenda for this meet, and seeing my time I was a little shocked, but I'm more motivated than ever for the rest of the season."

Southern was named PacWest Runner of the Week for the second time this season on Sept. 25.