Women’s Cross Country Takes Third at Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup

Women’s Cross Country Takes Third at Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup

HOPKINTON, N.H. (September 16, 2017) – Freshman Marissa Farago (Salisbury, Mass.) led the way with a third-place finish on Saturday, as the Franklin Pierce University women's cross country team placed third, of five teams, while hosting the Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds. Six Ravens finished in the top 20 on the day.

"Farago continues to show that she's one of the best freshmen in the entire East Region," said head coach Zach Emerson after the meet. "Both her and Zylak ran very mature races. This young team's going to keep getting better and better."

The Ravens finished the day with 55 points, which was comfortably good for third place. Bentley (35 points) claimed the team title, while Southern New Hampshire (45 points) placed second. Behind Franklin Pierce, Southern Connecticut State (91 points) and SUNY Polytechnic Institute (141 points) rounded out the field.

With the women bumping up the distance to 6k this week, Farago turned in a time of 24:14.0 to finish third in the 37-runner field. Joining her in the top 15 were sophomore Rebecca Zylak (Goffstown, N.H.) in fifth (24:31.5) and sophomore Julia Cormier (Northwood, N.H.) in 13th (25:32.4).

Rounding out Franklin Pierce's scoring five on Saturday were senior Natalie Davies (Ware, Mass.) in 16th (25:56.4) and freshman Lauren Stankiewicz (Naugatuck, Conn.) in 18th (27:24.3). Freshman Rebecca Cooke (Nottingham, N.H.) added a top-20 finish by placing 19th (28:01.5).

The Ravens return to action on Friday, Sept. 29, when they travel to Lehigh University for the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pa.

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).