Frostburg XC Women face uphill battle at DeSales University
The Frostburg State women traveled to DeSales University on Saturday to compete in a 6K at the DeSales Invitational. The field was split into varsity and junior varsity races with over 400 women competing in the field as a whole. Overall, the women's team placed 21st out of 35 full teams, with 658 points.
Leading the way for the Bobcats was, senior, Faith Thackston, who battled to an 80th place finish, with a time of 24:48. Following Thackston was Laurie Gotte, who placed 100th, overall, in 25:24. These two women's average mile paces were just ten seconds off of each other, 6:39 and 6:49 respectively.
Finishing in third for Frostburg State and 150th overall was freshman Sarah McCurry. McCurry's time of 26:52 was hard fought, battling a largely uphill course. Michala Garrison finished in fourth for the team and 165th, overall, with a time of 27:36. Samantha Gittere finished the race as the last scorer for the Bobcats in 199th place in 29:17.
Finishing just three seconds after Gittere was Jayla Jones in 29:20 in 203rd place. The fact that there were four runners placing between these two women reinforces the magnitude of this competition. Finishing up for Frostburg State's varsity team was Gabrielle Petty who crossed the line in 30:50 for a 220th finish. While Jones and Petty did not score for our team, their place finishes were still extremely important as they affected the scores of other teams.
The lone contender in the JV 6K at DeSales was Sidonie Brown, who worked the entire race picking off other racers one by one until she finished the race in 32:46 with a 131st place finish.
In just a few short weeks, FSU will return to this same course for the NCAA Mideast Regional meet. The race this weekend served as a great opportunity to get a feel for this particular course and to learn as much about the course as possible. The better they understand the raceway, the better they can adjust their strategy for the upcoming regional race. This meet was also a great step to seeing how the Bobcat women stacked up in the CAC, with four conference teams also competing at the meet.
Faith Thackston: 24:48
Laurie Gotte: 25:24
Sarah McCurry: 26:52
Michala Garrison: 27:36
Sam Gittere: 29:17
Jayla Jones: 29:20
Gabrielle Petty: 30:50
Sidonie Brown: 32:46
