Williamsburg, VA - Sophomore Ari Fisher (Lebanon, OH) won her second meet of the season and the University of Toledo women's cross country team blew past the field in winning the Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge Saturday.
The Rockets, No. 12 in the Great Lakes region poll, had six of the top-10 finishers in the eight-team field and recorded 23 points. Host William & Mary, ranked No. 5 in the Southeast region, was second with 43 points, while Navy, which is sixth in the Mid-Atlantic region, placed third with 86 points. Both schools were also their respective conference's defending champions.
Fisher completed the 6K course in 21:04.3, finishing 15 seconds in front of Kayley Byrne from William & Mary to claim the individual title. Fisher also took first place in Toledo's dual meet against Bowling Green on Sept. 4, the only other meet the team has competed in this fall.
Senior Renata Volf (Krizevci, Croatia) placed fourth overall in 21:37.7. She was followed by a trio of Rocket runners: junior Karen Sovacool (Lakewood, OH) took fifth in 21:50.3, sophomore Lindsay Toussant (Minerva, OH) placed sixth in 21:57.9, and junior Audra Brown (Ayersville, OH) finished seventh in 22:05.5 to round out Toledo's scoring. Sophomore Emma Kertesz (Toledo, OH) placed 10th in a time of 22:26.6 as the sixth Rocket to cross the finish line.
The fourth-place finish was Volf's best since she placed sixth at the Falcon Invitational (10/17/07). Sovacool, Brown and Toussant also recorded their best finishes in a tournament field, while it was also Kertesz's first career top-10 finish in a tournament.
Also placing in the top-30 out of the 82-runner field was freshman Samantha Condron (Miamisburg, OH), who took 17th overall; sophomore Joni Camp (Sterling, OH), who finished 24th; sophomore Danielle Thomas (Toledo, OH), who finished 29th; and freshman Hannah Evans (Lakewood, OH), seconds behind Thomas in 30th.
"We ran tough today," said head coach Kevin Hadsell. "This is a difficult course so I'm impressed not only with our win, but the times were impressive as well. William & Mary is traditionally one of the best teams in the country and a potential NCAA qualifier. It was a quality win and we are showing that we are a potential top-25 team and a legitimate contender for an NCAA bid. The goal now is to remain healthy, keep working hard and build on this."
The Rockets will compete at next Saturday's Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, IL. Several of the team's top runners, including senior Dagna Szytkiel (Bytom, Poland) and freshmen Devyn Ramsay (Benzonia, MI) and Kristal Studer (Bright, IN) will be back in action for that meet.
Contact: Scott Miles
scott.miles@utoledo.edu
