Over the past five years, the Aquinas athletic department has continued its storied tradition of athletic success in the form of individual national championships, incredible postseason runs, WHAC championships, record-breaking performances, and a tremendous number of athletic and academic All-America honorees.
 
We wanted to provide our fans with an enjoyable look back at some of the best moments from all of our athletic programs since 2015. Over the next two months, we will highlight a few programs each week - 25 programs in total - and provide a reminder of why it's great to be an Aquinas Saint.
 
Few WHAC schools in any sport have put together a four-year stretch of success as profound as the Aquinas women's cross country program, which captured four straight conference championships from 2014 to 2017. Just a few years earlier (2009 to 2011), the Saints posted a WHAC Championship three-peat, but AQ took it one step further when the 2017 team notched the league championship for the fourth time in a row.
 
The four-year women's cross country run was nearly unprecedented, as only Spring Arbor managed a better streak, winning six consecutive WHAC Championships from 1998 to 2003. During the first three years of AQ's reign (2014 to 2016), the Saints dominated the competition with an average victory margin of 45 points. That domination included winning the 2015 title by a 62-point margin and following up with a 41-point victory to capture the 2016 championship.
 
At Riverside Park on a wet and cool Saturday morning in November 2017, the Saints clinched their fourth straight WHAC title with tremendous performances from junior Melissa Winchester and senior Adri Sigafoose, as the duo finished first and second, respectively. Winchester finished as the individual champion with a winning time of 18:12, while Sigafoose was the runner-up just four seconds later. 
 
Janie Noah (ninth, 18:39), Meghan Rasch (12th, 18:48), and Alexis Miller (14th, 18:51) rounded out the top-five Saints to cross the line and helped clinch the fourth consecutive championship. Molly Peregrine and Whitney Taylor finished 18th and 19th, respectively, to put seven AQ runners in the top-20 of the individual standings, which the Saints also accomplished each of the previous three years.
 
Peregrine was a key contributor on all four of those WHAC Championship teams, finishing in the top seven for Aquinas in each championship race. Winchester, Sigafoose, Miller, and Kathy Middaugh placed in AQ's top seven during three of the four titles, while Carley Woolcott (the 2015 WHAC individual champion) and Clare Naughton each did so twice.
 
The fourth championship in a row also pushed Aquinas (eight) past Spring Arbor and Siena Heights (seven each) for the most WHAC titles in women's cross country history. AQ also maintained quite a run at the national level during this time period, as the 2014 team finished ninth at NAIA Nationals, followed by back-to-back-to-back fourth-place podium finishes at the 2015, 2016, and 2017 NAIA National Championships.

Next Moment: Thursday, September 10th

Previous Moments:

Women's Volleyball: Saints Capture First WHAC Title in 22 Years
Men's Cross Country: Aquinas Men Earn 2018 WHAC Championship
Women's Soccer: Saints Women Pick Up First National Tournament Win