NEW ORLEANS, LA

She's baaaaaack.

Faith Linga picked up right where she left off in March.

That can be summed up in one, simple word: winning.

Linga earned her first victory of the season on the grass circuit this past weekend at the Morningside Open, covering the 5K tract in 17:23.5, nearly three seconds ahead of one of her main rivals from last year, Eleonora Curtabbi of Iowa Central CC.

There were few NJCAA athletes who could hang with Linga last year as she rolled to a 13-second victory at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships in November and then doubled up on titles at the NJCAA Indoor Championships in March by sweeping the 3000 and 5000.

This is the fourth time in her career that Linga has been named National Athlete of the Week during the cross country season. Linga earned the honor three times last year.

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