GRACE GALLIGAN FINISHES 24TH AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS, EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS; LIAM GALLIGAN TAKES 63RD

Franciscan University senior Grace Galligan has impressed on the course all season and her final race for the Franciscan women's cross country team was no exception. Galligan captured 24th overall in a very competitive NCAA DIII National Championship meet and earned the first All-America honors for the women's program, Saturday afternoon.

Galligan ran her fastest race of her career as she finished 24th with a time of 21:45.7, 43 second faster than her previous PR. Her time also set the Lady Barons' program record for fastest 6,000-meter race.

Galligan edged out the 25th place runner by a set as she finished just a 10th of a second ahead of Elise Ramirez from SUNY Geneseo. The extremely competitive race saw just over a minute separate the first and 40th place runners, the cutoff for All-America honors.

Galligan was in 34th at the first split, about the 2.3K mark, as she hit 8:20.3 just over a third of the way through the race. Galligan began to make her move and over took 33rd at the 3K mark at 10:44.6. In the final split with just 1,000 meters left, Galligan clocked in at 28th with a time of 18:18.2. The Springfield, PA native used the final 1,000 meters to move up four spots and overtake runners from Johns Hopkins, Lynchburg, SUNY Geneseo, and Loras for the 24th place finish.

Galligan will cap her impressive three-year career with the Lady Barons and add All-America honors to an already impressive resume. In her three years with Franciscan, Galligan has won two individual AMCC titles (2016, 2018), led the Lady Barons to a team title (2018), was named AMCC Runner of the Year (2018), was named AMCC Newcomer of the Year (2016), and earned two Mideast All-Region honors (2017, 2018).

Baron sophomore Liam Galligan rounded out his second season with the Franciscan men's cross country team with the highest individual finish for a Baron at the NCAA DIII National Championship meet as he finished 63rd overall, Saturday afternoon.
 
In his first race on the national stage, Galligan fought hard in a tightly contested men's national championship race. Galligan finished 63rd overall with a time of 25:20.9, the highest individual finish for the Barons and his third-fastest time of the season.