Women Grab 5th at Hood College Open
This weekend the Women's team traveled to Hood College for their open meet. This year marks the 3rd year in a row that the women's team has competed at the Hood College Open - and the 3rd year with a top-10 team finish. In their first year competing, the women took the team title with 61 points. Last year they took 8th with 186 points. The women improved upon their finish last year - finishing in 5th out of 14 full teams with 158 points at the 2016 Hood College Open.
Faith Thackston led the way for the Bobcats with a finishing time of 24:44. She took 12th place overall, earning herself a medal for finishing within the top-20. In the last three years Thackston has run this course, this weekend's race marked her best finish and time by close to 45 seconds. Laurie Gotte was the 2nd runner in for the Bobcats - crossing the line in 29th place with a time of 25:42. Next across the line was freshman, Sarah McCurry. McCurry crossed the line in 47th place in 26:48. Michala Garrison followed 30 seconds and 4 places behind McCurry. Rounding out the scoring for the Bobcats was sophomore, Jayla Jones. Jones came in 70th with a time of 28:51 - 23 seconds faster than she covered the course last year.
Finishing almost side-by-side and forty seconds behind Jones, were teammates Sidonie Brown and Gabrielle Petty. Running the majority of the race together, the pushed each other all the way until the finish line. They crossed the line in 76th and 77th place with matching times of 29:32.
With just two weeks before the conference championship, this meet proved to be a beneficial tune-up for the women's team. The team has next weekend off from meets leading up to the BIG meet hosted by PSU-Harrisburg, giving them a chance to regroup and help heal some nagging injuries.
FSU Full Women's results:
12th - Faith Thackston - 24:44
29th - Laurie Gotte - 25:42
47th - Sarah McCurry - 26:48
51st - Michala Garrison - 27:18
70th - Jayla Jones - 28:51
76th - Sidonie Brown - 29:32
77th - Gabrielle Petty - 29:32
