Saturday, September 24, 2011

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - The Drake women's cross country team, going up against some of the nation's top-rated teams, finished in 26th-place at the Roy Griak Invitational Women's Gold Division cross country meet held at the Les Bolstad Golf Course Saturday.

"It was nice for us to have run the same course earlier this season," commented head coach Dan Hostager. "Many runners on our team were able to shave seconds off their times from the Oz Memorial two weeks ago."

Two hundred and seventy-two runners from across the nation helped comprise the strongest field that the young Bulldog squad has faced this fall. In addition, seven of the competing teams entered the weekend ranked in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Poll.

Leading the Bulldog charge was senior Kirsten Lake (Parker, Colo.) who netted a 158th-place finish running the 6,000-meter course in 23:29.

A freshmen trio of Mariel Fulton (Louisville, Colo.), Krista Maguire (Wausau, Wis.) and Melissa Parks (Norfolk, Neb.) finished in 165th, 167th and 172nd places, respectively. Fulton clocked in at 23:39, while Maguire ran the course in 23:42 and Parks finished in 24:08.

California, who entered the meet ranked fifth in the USTFCCA West Regional Poll, edged out Iowa State to win the team title. Senior Deborah Maier of the Golden Bears won the individual title finishing in 20:30.

"I was proud of the efforts today and most of the team came away with personal bests," Hostager said. "We have a young squad and are anxious for our next race."

Drake will have a partial squad compete close to home on Sept. 30 at the Grand View Invitational at Ewing Park in Des Moines.