MONTEVALLO, AL – Clayton State University had three runners finish in the top seven to edge out Columbus State and win the 2012 Peach Belt Conference women's cross country championship on Saturday in Montevallo, Ala.  The Lakers finished with 63 points while Columbus State placed two runners in the top 10 to finish with 70.  UNC Pembroke's Livia Mahaffie won the Individual Championship in a time of 22:36 over the 6k Falcon Cross Country Course.

Clayton State's seven-point win is the narrowest since Columbus State beat Clayton State by a 56-58 margin back in 2006.  The title is the second ever for the Lakers, their first coming in 2005.  Clayton State had finished in the top four in each of the last three PBC Championships, including a runner-up last season.

Racquel Valadez was the first Laker to cross the line, finishing third overall in a time of 22:51.  Samantha Walling was sixth in 23:05 followed two seconds later by Paige Galvin.  Jessica Smith was 22^nd overall in 23:59 while Maia Kuhnen was 25^th in 24:12.

Mahaffie captures her first career PBC title after finishing third at last year's championships.  The senior held off challenges from Montevallo's Kaley Glover and Haley Evans, who both paced Mahaffie at different times on the course.  With 1.5 miles to go, Mahaffie turned on the jets and won the race by 10 seconds over Glover and 15 ahead of Valadez.

Columbus State was second in the team standings as Moneque English finished fourth overall in 23:00.  Kristina Delpesche was ninth in 23:11 while Rayne Green was 13^th in 23:25.

UNC Pembroke was third in the team standings with 103 points.  Behind Mahaffie, Savannah Fornshell was 16^th with a time of 23:38 and Kendra Dorn 23^rd in 24:00.  Montevallo was fourth in the standings as Glover finished second and Evans fourth while Georgia College was fifth and Young Harris sixth.  Flagler, North Georgia, Augusta State, Georgia Southwestern, USC Aiken and Francis Marion rounded out the scoring.

Glover, Evans and Young Harris'  Nicole Smith were named the co-PBC Runners of the Year in a vote by the league's head coaches prior to the championship race.  It is the first time there have been multiple Runners of the Year.

Georgia Southwestern's Jessi Young was named the PBC Freshman of the Year.  She was the first freshman to cross the line on Saturday, finishing the race in 23:11.  She is the first Hurricane to be named the PBC Freshman of the Year.

Clayton State's Mike Mead was named the PBC Coach of the Year.  The vote was taken prior to the PBC Championship race after Mead led the Lakers to a win and three top five's during the regular season.  Mead earns his third Coach of the Year award for women's cross country, he has also won the honor three times for coaching the Lakers men's team.

The top seven finisher's in Saturday's race were named first-team All-Conference while the second seven were named second team.  The PBC also presented the All-Sportsmanship team, honoring one runner from each team for displaying outstanding sportsmanship during the season.

Clayton State - 2012 PBC Women's Cross Country Champions

Women's Cross Country 1st Team All-Conference

Women's Cross Country 2nd Team All-Conference