Eight of the nine athletes on the Elon University women's cross country team finished the Southern Conference meet with personal-best times. The men had four personal-bests in their sixth-place finish Oct. 29 in Charleston, S.C.

"It's really exciting anytime almost your entire team's best performance of their careers come on the same day," head coach Christine Engel said.

Freshman Luis Vargas and sophomore Allyson Oram both set school records during the SoCon meet. Vargas finished the 8-kilometer race with a time of 24:49.07, earning 10th place overall, while Oram ran the 5-kilometer race in 17:30.20, finishing ninth.

"I want to do everything I can for the team," Oram said. "I put my hardest out there, and I'm happy I could break the record for the school and help the program progress."

These two set the pace for the rest of the day, Engel said, where five times were added to the all-time performance list on the women's side, and two of the men's times were added to the Elon-best list.

Vargas was also named the SoCon Freshman of the Year, as well as All-SoCon Second Team and All-SoCon Freshman Team. Oram and junior Morgan Denecke were also named to the All-SoCon Second Team, while Sean Magee and Haylee Dawe landed on the All-SoCon Freshman team.

"It's the culmination of working hard all season and the synergy this team had," Engel said. "They had such a motivation, and it was good to see them challenge for the title."

On the women's side, the entire top-7 will be returning in 2012, and 16 of the 18 women on the roster will be back. Meanwhile, the men will only graduate two of the 13 on the team.

And those returning have already proven they can be successful, Engel said.

"It elevates how we view our future goals," she said. "That brings high expectations for next year. Anytime you come away with such a great team performance, the goal is set higher."

This will not only transcend to next year's cross country season, but it will also help in the upcoming track and field season, where many of the women compete, Engel said. And she said she's expecting more after these results.

"I think it really sets the bar high," Oram said. "We're just really excited to see how the team will improve and progress."

Both the men and women will return to action at the NCAA Regional meet in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 12.