ELON, N.C. -- Freshman Brittney Caudle capped an outstanding rookie season in the Black and Gold Saturday, taking home SoCon Runner of the Year honors after claiming the overall title at the Southern Conference cross country championship at Elon Saturday.

Caudle (17:47.32) easily outdistanced runner-up Chloe Kowalski by 21 seconds to lead the Mountaineers to a third-place finish, their highest since a runner-up finish in 2006. The Apps finished nine points behind champion Samford and eight shy of runner-up Elon.

Other top finishers for Appalachian include senior Katie Booker, who finished 13th with a time of 19:00.52 to earn second-team all So-Con honors, and junior Dani Reese (19:05.97, 16th overall).

Freshman Trinity Foreman turned in an impressive 23rd place finish with a time of 19:13.61 to earn all-freshman team honors, and classmate Sarah Williamson came in 30th with a time of 19:24.60.

Caudle, who was also named SoCon Freshman of the Year, gives the Mountaineers their first individual women's champion since Katie Sujkowski captured first place in 2003.