LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Six of the eight SCAC women’s cross country teams were in action the opening weekend of the 2014 season.
Colorado College
The Colorado College women's cross country team wrapped up its
2014 preseason on Saturday at the University of Colorado time trial
in Boulder, Colo. Five of head coach Ted Casteneda's runners came
in under the team's best time at the same meet last
year. Senior Camille Febvre led the Tigers with a
13th-place finish in a time of 25.58 over the 8.03-kilometer
course. Fellow senior Rebecca Lavietes was 14th with
a time of 26:00 while sophomore Katie Sandfort placed
15th at 26:05. Sophomores Allison Crimmins (26:15) and Stefani
Messick (26:17) and junior Beryl Coulter (25:56) finished
18th, 19th and 20th, respectively, while
sophomore Jessica Wright finished in 21st place with a
time of 27:34. The 2014 season officially opens on Saturday,
Sept. 13 at the Rust Buster, hosted by UCCS, in North Monument
Valley Park.
University of Dallas
The University of Dallas women opened its 2014 campaign at the
Texas Wesleyan University Ram Rumble where the Crusaders took
second-place among the four participating collegiate squads.
First-year head coach Matt Barber received strong performances from
his senior-laden squad, led by Claire Myers, who finished third
among all individuals with a time of 19:37. Seniors Colleen
Slattery and Danielle Pajak placed ninth (21:10) and 10th (21:27),
respectively, while fellow seniors Meghan Falconer (22:53 –
12th) and Michelle DeRoche (24:56 - 15th) both finished in the top
15. Next up for the Crusaders is the University of
Texas-Arlington Invitational on Saturday, September 13.
Schreiner University
Senior Adriana Mercado finished 18th and led the Schreiner
University women to a fourth place finish at the Alamo City Opener
on Friday evening in San Antonio – the first meet for new
head coach Cullen Dees. Mercado ran the 4000 meter race in
18:32. Junior Allyson Graybill was SU's second-fastest
finisher at 19:13 (21st), followed by sophomore Alexis Nyquist
(20:50, 23rd), junior Miranda Reagan (20:52, 24th) and senior Devan
Aquilar (22:05, 26th) to round out the scoring for the
Mountaineers. Schreiner also had solid performances from
freshman Rachel Jackson, junior Kaleen Dean and junior Katie
Bishop. This was the largest slate of women's competitors that
Schreiner has put forth since the program was started in
2006. The Mountaineers will compete in the Texas Lutheran
Invitational next Saturday in Seguin.
Southwestern University
The Southwestern University women kicked off the 2014 season by
edging Concordia (Texas) in a dual race at San Gabriel Park in
Georgetown. First-year runner Emily Boujemaa was more than a minute
better than second-place finisher Savannah De La Rosa of Concordia
with a time of 21:13.86. Along with Boujemaa's first place finish,
the Pirates placed six runners in the top 10 including
fourth-seventh places. Sophomore Danielle King finished fourth
with a time of 23:23.95 and was followed by first-year Izzy Lackner
(23:46.88), sophomore Brianna Timourian
(23:57.03) and first-year Colleen Nair
(24:29:36). Sophomore Valerie Vacek (25:17.71) rounded
out the top 10 finishers for Southwestern with a 10th-place finish.
The Pirate women return to action next weekend in Seguin, Texas,
for the Texas Lutheran Invitational.
Texas Lutheran University
The Texas Lutheran women’s team took third-place in the
non-DI category of the Alamo City Opener, which was run this past
Friday. Sophomore Sarah Fritzsche posted a top-five
finish in the 4,000-meter race, finishing just 24.81 seconds behind
the non-DI winner (Jazmine Garcia of OLLU) while collecting fifth
place with a time of 15:46.82. Junior Jasmine
Medrano and junior Sarah Randall recorded
17th and 26th-place finishes with times of 17:19.61 and
18:09.21, respectively. First-year Haley Cortez
(18:55.26), junior Samantha Lopez (19:09.93), junior
Amanda Lopez (20:28.46), sophomore Kelsey Gomez
(21:33.26) and first-year Kristen Hinton
(22:27.99) rounded out the Bulldogs' running roster on
Friday. Next up for the TLU women is the Texas Lutheran
University Invitational which will be run on campus Saturday, Sept.
6.
Trinity University
Trinity University, the two-time defending SCAC champions, opened
the 2014 season with a victory among non-Division I teams at the
Alamo City Opener on Friday evening. The Tiger women had seven
runners in the top 11 among non-DI competition for first-year head
coach Emily Daum, who served the previous two seasons as the
team’s assistant coach. Senior Michelle
Oberndorf led the way for Trinity's women, jumping up from
20th to fifth overall - second among non-DI runners with a finish
of 15:26.32. First-year Melissa Whitman was a pleasant
surprise in her first collegiate competition, finishing third in
her race and 11th overall (15:40.11). Senior Nicola
Hill (15:50.75) and junior Mariana Sigala
(15:57.94) finished sixth and seventh, while
first-years Lexi Phelps (16:08.57) and Emma
MacEachern (16:12.72) both nabbed spots in the top 10. The
Trinity women return to action on September 19 at the UTSA Ricardo
Romo Classic.
The Austin College and Centenary College women were off last week. Both teams open their 2014 seasons on Friday, Sept. 5 at the University of Texas-Tyler Braveheart Invitational.
