Cross Country Travels to Wisconsin Invite
October 16, 2014 01:22 PM | General
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| Cleary |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 20-ranked West Virginia University cross country team returns to action this Friday, Oct. 17, at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational in Madison.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for this group,” said coach Sean Cleary. “I was pleased with our result at Louisville, but we need to be one small step better. Our goal for the meet is simple – come home having increased our odds of qualifying for the NCAA finals in November.”
The women’s 6K, which will begin at noon, ET, will feature 22 of the 30 nationally ranked teams in the most recent USTFCCCA national poll, including six of the top-10 squads.
“This competition brings together 22 of the top 30 teams in the nation in addition to 20 other teams that believe they are good enough to run at the national championships,” Cleary said. “A team that finishes 20th at this meet is arguably one of the top 25-30 teams in the country.”
The Mountaineers, who moved up three spots to No. 20 in last week’s USTFCCCA rankings, haven’t competed since Oct. 4 at the Greater Louisville Classic. West Virginia placed second in the event and has recorded three top-five finishes to begin a season for the first time since 2009.
Freshmen Maggie Drazba and Millie Paladino made their Mountaineer debuts at the Greater Louisville Classic. Drazba, a St. Mary’s, West Virginia, native, placed 15th with a 5k time of 17:20.56, while Paladino, a Morgantown native, finished 21st in 17:34.54.
Two-time All-American senior Kaitlyn Gillespie competed for the first time since 2012, finishing in 10th place overall in 17:17.46. Sophomore Jillian Forsey paced the group while being the first Mountaineer to cross the line with a time of 16:58.69.
“Running in this meet brings with it a change in our traditional schedule,” Cleary said. “It has been 10 years since we got on a plane and flew to compete. I feel it’s important to the future of the program that we do this.”
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