Throwing her early season struggles into the wind, Valparaiso cross country runner Laura Rolf finally blew by the rest of the competition, winning her second straight Horizon League championship on Saturday in Green Bay.

Rolf crossed the finish line in 17:33.73, the same time as last year's victory at Sunset Hills in Valparaiso, and nearly 29 seconds faster than Loyola's Colleen Donovan (18:02.35).

"I felt strong throughout the entire race. It was the best I felt all season," Rolf said. "I just decided to give it all I had, and I wanted to get a lead from the beginning and make the other girls race themselves so I could do my own thing."

Rolf's victory helped the Crusader women garner a fourth-place finish in the team competition while Loyola won the conference title for the first time since 2001, breaking Butler's six-year stranglehold.

"This women's team, for the most part, is self-made," Valparaiso coach Mike Straubel said. "They didn't have a lot of outstanding high school careers, but they work hard and have improved dramatically. That is very gratifying."

The Crusader men struggled to an eighth-place finish as seniors Chris Honig (20th -- 26:22.40) and Jim Turchyn (40th -- 27:08.98) were the only runners to crack the top 50. The Butler men's team captured its 11th straight team title.

"We have to get regrouped and try to finish out the season strong at the NCAA regional," Straubel said. "We have to try and figure out what happened today."

Rolf was the story of the day for the Crusaders as she gained personal revenge over Butler's Marbeth Shiell, who had defeated Rolf twice earlier in the season. Shiell (18:34.22) finished in fourth place, more than a minute behind Rolf.

"I think part of everything was just getting back into racing," Rolf said. "I started less ambitious, but now I've been gaining confidence in the workouts and at the meets and am ready to take it to the next level."

Rolf and the Crusaders return to action in two weeks at an NCAA regional in West Lafayette.