RedHawks Impress at Spartan Invitational

Friday, September 12

East Lansing, Mich.

1:35 PM

Miami University

Spartan Invitational

9/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country

Sept. 12, 2008

OXFORD, Ohio - Friday's Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Mich. saw the Miami University women's cross country team place four runners in the top-15 and five runners in the top-20 against one of the nation's toughest squads running on their home course.

First-year MU head women's cross country coach Rita Arndt-Molis led Miami back to MSU, where she spent the past four years as a Spartan assistant and head coach. While no team scoring was recorded, Miami came away from their first 6,000 meter race of the year with some very impressive results.

Participating teams included Michigan State, NCAA Division-II power Grand Valley State, and Mid-American Conference foes Buffalo, Central Michigan and Western Michigan.

While the host Spartans took the top three places and seven of the top-10 spots, the RedHawks were right behind with junior Laura Neufarth pacing Miami in fourth place overall and a finishing time of 21:45 on the Forest Akers East Golf Course.

Sophomore Rachel Patterson and junior Kelsey McHugh finished ninth and 10th, respectively, finishing back-to-back at 22:01 and 22:02. Junior Amanda Mirochna took 14th at 22:22, while freshman Maggie Bingham was 19th with a time of 22:36. "Having four runners in the top-15 against a team like Michigan State, which is a top-5 nationally-ranked team, is a great thing to see," said Arndt-Molis. "To mix it up with a team like that is a step in the right direction."

Sophomore Julie Roche and sophomore Kelley Miller took 24th and 26th, respectively, with times of 22:40 and 22:46.

Only one opposing MAC runner finished within the Miami top-5 at 13th place, showing Arndt-Molis that the RedHawks have the ability to compete as a team. Furthermore, Miami's top six runners finished within one minute of each other.

"We ran as a team and shared the burden of the race," the RedHawk coach continued. "We asserted ourselves in a positive way and are assuming our role as a highly competitive team."

Sophomore Katie Lenahan was 44th at 23:24, followed closely by freshman Brigid Carey who took 47th with a time of 23:26. Freshman Tory Paez finished in 92nd, ending in 25:07.

Arndt-Molis ended by discussing the overall effort of the team and what that effort says about the possibility for future success.

"If we can keep this effort up then, while we still have a long way to go, we are working toward our goals of competing for the MAC title and qualifying for nationals."

The RedHawks will continue down that path when they travel to another major competition in the Cowboy Invitational, hosted by Oklahoma State University on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 a.m. CT.