Utica Women Place Third Out of 11 Teams at Oswego Invitational
Oswego, N.Y. (9/10/2011) - The Utica College women’s cross country team had three runners place in the top 25 to help the Pioneers take third place at the Oswego State Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning. Sophomore Katie Day was the Pioneers’ top finisher, taking home ninth place out of 113 runners, with a time of 20:22.86 in the women’s 5K. Freshman Theresa Rakiewicz posted an impressive 13th place finish, coming in with a time of 20:39.90.
Four of the Pioneers top six finishers were freshman including Rakiewicz, Savannah Bernardin, Julie Bowler and Rianne Erlwein. Bernardin crossed the finish line in 21st place after posting a time of 21:08.91, while Bowler placed 28th overall with a time of 21:43.84. Sophomore Jamiee Balloni came in 30th place overall (fifth on the team) with a time of 21:52.59, while Erlwein rounded out the top 31 finishers with a time of 21:57.97.
Freshman Marissa Hitchcock clocked in a time of 22:50.53 to earn 44th place, while Samantha Slattery placed 57th overall (23:15.84).
The race featured 11 Division III teams, with the Pioneers registering 83 points to take home third place behind Ithaca and William Smith. UC was originally scheduled to travel to Cobleskill to defend their 2010 title at the Fighting Tiger Invitational, but the recent flooding in the North East forced Cobleskill to cancel the meet.