Cross Country Finishes 27th at UMass Dartmouth

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. (Sept. 19, 2009) – The Mount Holyoke College women’s cross country team earned a 27th place finish today at the 37th annual University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Invitational.

A total of 42 teams and 301 individuals participated in the 5,000 meter race. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology took home top team honors with a score of 60. Brandeis University (75) and Keene State College (115) rounded out the top three. Mount Holyoke finished with 788 points.

MIT’s Jacqui Wentz cruised to the individual championship, crossing the line in 17:40. She was followed by Rowan College’s Jen Rawls (17:59) and Amanda DiPaolo (18:03) of Springfield College.

Mount Holyoke’s seven runners posted an average time of 21:22 and were separated by just 48 seconds. Leading the way for the Lyons was sophomore Emily Follo, who collected 138th place with a time of 21:00. Classmate Holly Valenzuela crossed the line in 21:12 to take 149th place, while first year Katherine Bussiere posted a 164th place result with her time of 21:25.

The competition also featured a sub-varsity event in which first year Hannah Fillingim recorded 49th place (21:30), and junior Emma Angus grabbed 57th place (21:44).

Mount Holyoke will return to action next Saturday at the Williams College Purple Valley Classic. The meet is slated to begin at 12:45 p.m.