Three in Top 25 as Women’s Cross Country Places Fourth at UNE Invitational
BIDDEFORD, Maine (September 14, 2019) -- The Franklin Pierce University Women's cross country team was in action on Saturday morning at the UNE Invitational, hosted by University of New England. Junior Marissa Farago (Salisbury, Mass.) was the first to cross the finish line for the Ravens. Her time for the 5k race was 19:54 which landed her in 14th, out of 133 runners.
The next finishers for the Ravens were very close in time. Senior Julia Cormier (Northwood, N.H.) took 23rd with her 20:41 finish, followed by senior Rebecca Zylak (Goffstown, N.H.), who took 24th with her 20:42 finish.
Shortly behind Zylak, was Alana Thompson (Westampton, N.J.), a sophomore. Thompson scored 30th, after her 20:52 finish. Freshman Nadia Cathcart (Hyde Park, N.Y.) finished in 21:15, landing her in 34th. Not far behind was junior Lauren Stankiewicz (Naugatuck, Conn.), who took 39th with her 21:32 finish.
"Our one-through-five runners finished within 1:20 of each other, which shows that we have the makings of a team that can be really competitive by the end of the season," said head coach Zach Emerson after the race. "We look forward to seeing similar improvements at next week's race. Today, I was very impressed by Farago dipping under 20 minutes for the first time this year, as well as Lauren Stankiewicz shaving off nearly three minutes from her 5k time from last week."
Both junior Marisa Carbone (Scarborough, Maine) and freshman Victoria Van Houten (Wantage, N.J.) battled to get into the top 50, but narrowly missed out. Carbone took 52nd and ran a 22:05. Van Houten was only two seconds behind with her 53rd place finish and a time of 22:07. This landed Van Houten as the eighth finisher for the Ravens.
Also in the field for the Ravens was Alena Masterson (Pelham, N.H.), a sophomore who ran a 23:19, freshman Amanda Pale (Plainville, Conn.), who ran a 24:05, and freshman Alexis Collins (Monroe, N.H.), who ran a 24:12.
The Ravens scored 115 points and finished in fourth out of 11 schools. Coming in first was Wellesley College with 27 points, followed by Trinity with 58 points and the University of New England with 61 points. Saint Joseph's took fifth with 150 points. Gordon College was in sixth with 155 points. They were followed by Lasell College with 235 points, Mass Maritime Academy with 279 points, Maine Maritime with 293 points, UMass Boston with 295 points, and Nichols College with 303 points.
The Ravens will be back at it once again on Saturday, Sept. 21, for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational in Dartmouth, Mass.
For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). 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 (https://www.shopfpuravens.com).