Continuing on their journey for a top three region finish, the Slippery Rock University women’s cross-country team finished in third place this past Saturday at the Mack Cooper Invitational. So far this season, the Rock has two second place finishes and now adds this third place finish.
SRU was one of 12 universities to compete at the event, which was held at Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock. Shippensburg University took first place, scoring 43 points. Lock Haven University came in second place with 83 points and the Green and White finished in third place with 100 points. Rounding out the top five schools were West Chester University with 106 points and the Penn State University club team in fifth with 113 points. The other schools that competed were West Virginia Wesleyan University, California University of Pennsylvania, Wheeling Jesuit University, Notre Dame University of Ohio, and Fairmont State University.
The Rock placed one runner in the top five and three in the top 30. The top runner for the Green and White was once again junior Jenny Picot who finished in third place overall with a time of 23:00. Picot has lead the Rock at all three meets this season, and has always finished in the top five runners. Beating out Picot were Amanda Eisman from West Chester with a time of 22:25 and Julie Friend from Cal U with a time of 22:48.
The next best runner for SRU was senior Janine Powis who finished in 13 place with a time of 24:00. The next two scorers for the Green and White were sophomore Kaylee Haberkam and junior Brittany Fagan. Haberkam had a time of 24:36, which was good enough for 28 place. Fagan placed 31 with a time of 24:42. The Rock’s fifth and final scorer was freshman Erin Allison who had a time of 24:43 and finished in 33 place. SRU’s other top runners were freshman Rebekah Zee in 53 place with a time of 25:25 and senior Angelica Bagwell with a time of 25:31 in 54 place.
A total of 144 women ran in the event, and 12 runners from the Rock completed the 6000-meter course. The Green and White’s top five runners completed the course with a total time of two hours and one minute, averaging a time of 24:12.
The Rock runners will have a week off before going to their final regular season meet on Oct. 25 at the Lock Haven University Go Fast River Run.
