The University of Southern Maine women’s cross-country continued their success in 2009 as they took a second place finish in the Pop Crowell Invitational at Gordon College on Saturday. The Huskies placed five runners in the top 30 at the 27-team competition, marking it as one of their best performances of the year.
On a day with standing water on Gordon College course, the women’s Husky runners rose above the elements and vastly improved their individual and team efforts as they moved up five places from their 2008 Pop Crowell finish. Freshman Jennie Foley (Bangor) led the aggressive USM team in the meet as she took second place with a time of 18:59, just behind individual winner Randelle Boots of Wellesley with a time of 18:55. Junior Carly Dion (Biddeford) finished second for USM and fourth overall with a time of 19:07 as she extended her tremendous efforts in 2009.
“Jennie and Carly went out with the leaders from the gun, and battled the eventual winner (Boots) right to the final kick,” USM Coach George Towle said. “Jennie continues to be our surprise of the fall as she has been out of running and school for the past two years while a part of AmeriCorp. She has turned in some terrific performances and has been a huge bonus for our team.”
The rest of the USM field was balanced out by experienced running and young talent. Senior Captain Sarah Myrick (Weybridge, VT), junior Erin Garvey (Haverhill, MA), and freshman Brooke Madden (Brewer) placed 11th, 18th, and 30th in the race as they finished up the scoring for the Huskies.
“The team this year worked extremely hard over the summer, and are now running with more strength and confidence as a result from their efforts,” Towle mentioned.
Madden is continuing to have a stellar rookie year as she turned in her best finish of the season, and is slowly closing in to being one of the top four runners on the team. Other USM runners that notched solid finishes were junior St. Joe’s transfer Tiffany Binnette (Biddeford) who finished 6th on the team and 39th overall in a time of 20:50, and Alexandra Raynor (Lamoine) who finished 46th overall in a time of 21:03. Veteran runners Christina Connolly and Abby Kramer improved their times from the 2008 Pop Crowell by 1:25 and 1:39, finishing with times of 21:30 (63rd) and 23:09 (138th) respectively.
The USM women’s cross-country team will split their team up next week, as a few runners will be competing in the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, and the rest of the team will run at the James Early Invitational at Westfield State College in Westfield, MA.