GAINESVILLE, Fla. - 29 collegiate women's cross country teams competed at the Mountain Dew Invitational on Saturday morning, hosted by the University of Florida at Mark Bostick Golf Course, and the Embry-Riddle Eagles ran to a ninth-place finish amongst the non-NCAA I programs.
Embry-Riddle - 9th of 16 (Meet Results)
The Blue and Gold totalled 242 points in the race, with two runners placing in the top-30. Saint Leo won the non-NCAA I portion of the meet with 47 points. The Eagles averaged 21:31.57 and had a total time of 1:47:37.85.
The Eagles
Senior
Martina Tafoya was the first Eagle finisher in Gainesville, coming in 27th with a time of 19:54.81, her fastest of the season.
Eliza Gazda was in 30th when she crossed the finish line in 19:59.21, marking her fastest time of the season as well.
Alexandria Meneses was 59th (21:10.97), while
Leanne Ellis (22:41.71) and
Brianna Paczynski (23:48.90) finished 99th and 112th, respectively.
Maite Moscoso ran a 24:32.02 to place 118th and
Hayley Lewis finished 120th in 24:46.78 for Embry-Riddle.
Three runners competed unattached for ERAU, including
Alex Orr, who finished 11th overall in 18:55.17, followed by
Sarah Edens in 19:26.31, good for 20th.
Josie Gray placed 35th in 20:15.02 as an unattached competitor.
Quotable
"I thought we moved forward quite a bit," Head Coach
Mike Rosolino said. "We had a lot of big improvements and it was good to get our top two runners under 20 minutes. Hayley (Lewis) had a great race today, dropping a couple of minutes. I look forward to continued improvement in the coming weeks."
Next Up
Embry-Riddle will take a break from competition next weekend and prepare for NCAA II Pre-Nationals on Saturday, October 8 in St. Leo, Florida, hosted by St. Leo.
