Sunday, October 30, 2011
TERRE HAUTE, Ind.— Led by freshman Mariel Fulton (Louisville, Colo.), the Drake women's cross country team finished ninth at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship on Sunday. Illinois State won the conference team title and Wichita State was second.
Fulton finished the 5,000-meter course in 18:58 to pace the Bulldogs and earn 29th-place.
Senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.), who was the lone upperclassmen competing for Drake, was 46th crossing the line in 19:21.
Freshman Melissa Parks (Norfolk, Neb.) ran the hilly course in 19:29 to come in 48th. Rounding out the top-five for Drake were sophomore Amanda Marwitz (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and Erin Poss (Antioch, Ill.), who had times of 19:45 and 20:05, respectively.
“We had some great efforts today even tough we were short-handed,” said head coach Dan Hostager. “Today was a good building block for the future as our conference is extremely tough and deep. Looking back at this year, we have shown great improvement from the start of the season.”
The Bulldogs will compete at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship on Nov. 12 in DeKalb, Ill. Drake will face 32 other schools at the NIU North 40 course.
