EMMITSBURG, Md. (September 1, 2017) – Freshman Marissa Farago (Salisbury, Mass.) ran the second-fastest time in program history on Friday afternoon, as she led the way for the Franklin Pierce University women's cross country team at the Mount St. Mary's 5K Duals. At the season-opening meet, the Ravens posted a victory over host Mount St. Mary's, while suffering defeats at the hands of American, George Washington, Maryland, Maryland-Baltimore County and Navy.

Friday's meet was not scored in the traditional method of scoring cross country meets. Instead, each team was scored on a head-to-head basis against each of the other schools in attendance. Franklin Pierce posted a 22-33 win over Mount St. Mary's (with lower scores being better), while taking defeats against the remainder of its opponents. Navy defeated all comers at the meet, posting a 6-0 record, while George Washington and American each went 4-1-1, Maryland went 3-3 and UMBC went 2-4 in front of the 1-5 Ravens, who outpaced Mount St. Mary's, which finished 0-6.

Individually, Farago finished the 5K course in 19:19.12. Among 5K times in program annals, the mark sits only behind Alyssa Lambert '16, who finished her career as a two-time All-American for the track & field program.

After Farago, it was 18 spots back to sophomore Rebecca Zylak (Goffstown, N.H.), who ran a 19:49.81 to place 53^rd. One other Raven placed in the top 60 of the 94-runner field, with Natalie Davies (Ware, Mass.) opening her senior season with a 56^th-place finish (19:56.47). Davies was the final runner to complete the race in under 20 minutes.

Farther back on Friday, sophomore Julia Cormier (Northwood, N.H.) finished 65^th (20:22.56), while freshman Rebecca Cooke (Nottingham, N.H.) rounded out Franklin Pierce's scoring five in 79^th (22:11.85).

The Ravens return to action on Saturday, Sept. 9, when they travel to Northampton, Mass., for the Smith College Cross Country Invitational.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).