St. Mary’s Has Strong Showing at Hood Open
Walkersville, Md. - The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's cross country team notched a fifth-place finish at the Third Annual Hood College Open on a soggy Saturday morning as the Seahawks previewed the November 7 Capital Athletic Conference championship course.
Freshman Roni Frye of Shenandoah University captured the individual title as Frye crossed the finish line in 24:40.21, while Catholic University claimed the team title with 49 points and four top 15 finishes. Both Shenandoah and Catholic are regionally ranked in the South/Southeast region as the Hornets are sixth and Catholic is eighth.
Freshman Katie Phipps' (Severna Park, Md./Chesapeake) paced St. Mary's with her 15th-place finish as Phipps crossed the finish line for the 6,000-meter race in 26:33.34.
St. Mary's next top finisher was freshman Kristin Hay (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) as Hay finished 35th with a time of 28:14.41, while freshman Margaret Lillie (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) came in 51st in 29:14.46.
Rounding out the race for the Seahawks were junior captain Christi Ford (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) and sophomore Laura Hewins (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales Academy). Ford was 53rd in 29:25.74 while Hewins placed 82nd in 32:59.72.
In comparison to its conference counterparts, St. Mary's bested seventh-place Hood and 12th-place Wesley College while York (Pa.) College finished third.
The Seahawks will return to action in two weeks when St. Mary's competes in its first-ever Capital Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday, November 7 hosted by Hood at Heritage Farm Park in Walkersville, Md. The race will begin at 11:00 am.
The addition of men's and women's cross country during the spring of 2009 brought St. Mary's athletic offerings to 17 sports.
Affiliated with NCAA Division III, St. Mary's became the ninth and final member institution of the Capital Athletic Conference to sponsor both men's and women's cross country. The Seahawks joined Gallaudet University, Hood College, the University of Mary Washington, Marymount (Va.) University, Salisbury University, Stevenson University, Wesley College, and York (Pa.) College.
6K Women's Team Standings: 1. Catholic (49), 2. Penn State Altoona (69), 3. York (Pa.) (71), 4. Shenandoah (94), 5. St. Mary's (Md.) (190), 6. Washington & Jefferson (191), 7. Hood (192), 8. Alvernia (222), 9. CCBC-Essex (226), 10. Marymount (Va.) (241), 11. Pittsburgh-Greensburg (251), 12. Wesley (254), 13. Mount Aloysius (380)
