LOUISVILLE, KY- The Wilmington College women's cross country team competed in the Louisville Classic Cross Country Meet Saturday. This meet was the first large-scale meet for the Fightin' Quakers this season. The course welcomed three NCAA DI teams, five NCAA DII teams, and 31 from 'Other Divisions'', primarily NCAA DIII, for the Silver group events of the meet. Each division of runners was separated into a 'Gold' and 'Silver' group. Wilmington's runners competed in the Silver, Other Divisions event. Their event, alone, fielded 265 runners.
In the 'Other Division' Silver category, the Fightin' Quakers finished 30th with an average time of 23:14.23.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-
Sophomore Allison Helmke (Defiance, OH/Tinora) was the first to cross the finish line for the Fightin' Quakers. She posted a 22:01.37 to earn 160th-place in the 5000-meter run.
-
Next in was freshman McKenzie Hamm (Blanchester, OH/Blanchester). She ran in for 193rd-place with a time of 22:44.36.
-
Sophomores Kelly Rice (Whitehouse, OH/Anthony Wayne), Kayla Thornberry (McDermott, OH/Northwest), and freshman Summer Doty (North Lewisburg, OH/Triad) were the last of the Fighitn' Quakers to cross the finish line for points. They finished 203rd (23:06.20), 227th (23:51.65), and 240th (24:27.57), respectively.
HEAD COACH RON COMBS QUOTES
-
"This was our first big meet of the year and our lack of big meet racing really showed. The team seemed overwhelmed by the environment. Our workouts have shown we are a much better team. We get the opportunity next Friday to go and show that we are much better than how we ran today."
WHAT'S NEXT
-
The Fightin' Quakers head to the Eagle Invitational in Warrenville, IL, Friday.