Women Race to Fourth Place at Home
On a tough, hilly and muddy course with rainy conditions, the Women's XC team finished in fourth place at the Frostburg State University XC Invitational. Today's race marked the first and only time either of the XC teams will compete at home this year. Today also marked the first time this season the woman ran a 6k.
The meet was represented by not only Division III schools, but also junior colleges, alumni, WVU running club, and Division II institutions. With some tough competition, our women finished in fourth place with 87 points (only 4 points behind 3rd place!). Alderson Broaddus, an NCAA Division II institution, won the women's race with an impressive 28 points.
The first runner in for FSU was Faith Thackston, who was able to navigate through the swampy course to finish in 9th place overall with a time of 26:40.85. Faith's time would be roughly the equivalent to running a 7:09 per mile. She finished just behind former teammate, Casey Columbus who took 8th in 26:24.88 (only 0.88 behind the 7th place finisher). Our next runner to cross the finish line was Laurie Gotte. Despite having some leg cramps toward the beginning of the race, Laurie was able to get herself in a position to finish just outside the top-10 with an 11th place finish in 26:54.07. Michala Garrison was our next finisher - covering the course in 28:29.65 to finish in 21st place overall. Climbing up the short hill to the finish line just 3 women later was teammate, Sarah McCurry. Sarah ran the course just 10 seconds under 29:00 - ending the race in 24th place overall. Rounding out the top-5 finishers for us was Sam Gittere, who finished 36th overall and ran 30:44.31.
Our next 2 finishers, crossed the line one right after the other. Gabrielle Petty and Jayla Jones rounded out the scoring for our team with a 40th and 41st place finish overall. Gabrielle crossed the line at 31:54.88 - just 8 seconds ahead of her teammate, Jayla (32:02.84). Freshman Sidonie Brown covered the 6k course (the first 6k she has ever run) in 32:46.83.
Despite some scheduling issues, the women ran an impressive race on a not-so-forgiving course with great competition. With just 2 meets left before the CAC Championship race, the women look to continue to improve, maintain toughness, and stay resilient.
**Alum Jen Bower made a return to the Maplehurst course - and ran to a 46th place finish in 32:44.61. The last time Jen ran this course was in 2012 (her junior season) at the CAC XC Championships. The course was a little different then, but still just as tough.
*thanks to Mr. Rickards for the pictures!
