HANOVER, Ind. - Trinity University posted the best finish by a SCAC school in championship meet history as the Tiger women finished sixth at the 2008 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at Hanover College.

Led by a 17th-place individual finish by senior Emily Loeffler (21:31.04), Trinity finished with 317 points, just seven points behind fifth-place University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Loeffler earned All-American honors with her finish and became Trinity's first-ever cross country All-American, male or female. Last May, Loeffler was an All-American in track and field, finishing third in the NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Middlebury College won the team championship, finishing with 179 points, followed by Calvin College with 237 points. Williams College was third with 240 points and Wartburg College came in fourth with 284 points.

DePauw University, the other SCAC team entrant, finished 26th with 528 points.

Trinity's sixth-place finish was one place better than DePauw's seventh-place finish in 2007.

Other Trinity runners included senior D'Ann Arthur, who came in 51st with a time of 22:02.69, senior Liz Eder, who came in 63rd with a time of 22:08.32, sophomore Caitlin Masse, who finished 152nd with a time of 22:54.25, sophomore Krissy Ford, who finished 184th in a time of 23:11.67, senior Jayde Gearing, who was 260th in a time of 24:09.50 and sophomore Liz Frost, who was 278th in a time of 26:13.83.

Junior Lauren Reich was the top finisher from DePauw, coming in 27th overall with a finishing time of 21:35.00 to also earn all-America honors. Junior Ellen Mail was 167th in a time of 22:59.32, senior Julie Theibert came in 179th with a time of 23:09.05, first-year Claire Hollis finished 185th in a time of 23:12.70, junior Alison Case was 189th with a finishing time of 23:16.02, junior Melissa Buckley was 197th in a time of 23:18.76, and senior Leah Seigel finished 203rd in a time of 23:21.41.

Other SCAC finishers included first-year Taylor Stephens of Rhodes College, who came in 35th with a time of 21:44.90. She was the only first-year runner, male or female, to earn all-America honors. Her teammate, junior Cybil Covic was 86th with a finishing time of 22:21.97.

First-year Lolly Plummer of Hendrix College finished 105th in a time of 22:32.62.

For complete results from the 2008 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship meet, click here.