GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The 2019 season officially began for the Embry-Riddle women's cross country team on Saturday as the Eagles ran in the Mountain Dew Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida. ERAU came in seventh overall in the 35-team field, and the Blue and Gold was the second NCAA II finisher at the Mark Bostic Golf Course.

Running without a number of their usual top runners, the Eagles' 240 points put them seventh on the team leaderboard, the only NCAA II team in front of them was preseason Sunshine State Conference favorite Tampa in second overall.

Sarah Edens, who was the top Eagle finisher in seven of eight races last season, was once again the top ERAU runner on Saturday, placing 19th overall in 18:52.9. Anna Miller (19:14.8) made her collegiate debut with a 33rd-place finish, and her fellow freshman Alyssa Zack (19:41.5) placed 56th overall. Rachel Jones (19:48.6) and Ukeyvia Beckwith (20:00.2) rounded out the Eagle scorers in 68th and 835rd, respectively.

Maggie Allen (20:57.7), Grayson Iller (21:27.1), Mikaela Hakamaa (21:42.1), Morgan Dudley (22:53.3), Kaitlyn Buck (22:37.) and Megan Fletcher (22:50.1) also competed for Embry-Riddle, with Iller and Dudley running in their first collegiate race.

"We had a solid race did a good job of finishing strong," Head Coach Mike Rosolino said. "We moved up a few places in the second half of the race. We obviously missed having Kara (Funke) today and it was an off day for a couple of others. Our freshmen had great races with all four either setting personal bests or coming close to their high school bests. I'm excited about our future. Tampa had a great race today and we know we have a lot of work to do to catch them."

Host Florida (30) won the meet, followed by Tampa (107), North Florida (133), Troy (183) and Southeastern (191) in the top five.

The Eagles will prepare for the annual ASICS Embry-Riddle Classic next week on Sept. 21 where they will look to defend their home title.