GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Senior Khaniya Higginbotham distanced herself from the final two Davenport runners to propel Roosevelt to a 10^th-place finish at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Davenport.

Higginbotham finished in a time of 31:27 as the final scoring runner for the Lakers, giving them 321 points for the event. That was good enough to edge out the host Panthers, who finished with 336 points in last place.

Sophomore Gloria Romero paced the Lakers at the conference championships with a personal-best time of 23:58 to finish in 80^th. Classmate Cristin Moreno also set a new personal best Saturday on the 6-kilometer course and scored 63 points with her 94^th-place finish in a time of 25:31. Both sophomores finished ahead of Davenport's second runner to help Roosevelt take the lead.

However, the Lakers got a big boost from senior Shelsee Isassi and graduate student Lisset Munoz, who both beat out the third Panthers runner. Isassi's 26:44 was a season-best and just a few seconds off the career high she set at last year's conference meet. Munoz was right behind in 29:15 as the fourth Roosevelt runner across the finish line.

The Roosevelt men did not record an official team score after only four Lakers were able to cross the finish line. Jason Perez-Martin would have scored 59 points for Roosevelt as its top runner, finishing in 85^th place with a personal-best time of 27:50 over the 8-kilometer course. The other three Lakers all finished in a group within a minute of each other.

Jeremy Wilson made his debut for the Lakers by finishing in a time of 33:15. Ajay Marquez was just nine seconds slower in his first race of the season while Raul Ortiz was the final Roosevelt runner to finish in a season-best 34:07.

Grand Valley State won both the men's and women's titles with ease as the women scored a perfect 15 while the men had to settle for 17 points.