Marietta women run well in final tune up before OAC Championships
Pioneers take fourth at Elizabethtown 4k Invitational

Oct. 20, 2007
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The Marietta College women's cross country team traveled to the fourth annual Elizabethtown College Invitational Saturday (Oct. 20) morning for some final preparation before the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships on October 27. The race was a 4k rather than the 6k that the Pioneers will run at OAC's.

Marietta went head-to-head with and faired well against some of the Mid-East Region's top teams on Saturday. The Pioneers totaled 146 points and averaged 16:02.20 to place fourth overall in the 16-team field. Shippensburg, a Division II school, won the meet with 60 points. Host Elizabethtown, ranked No. 10 in the October 9 Mid-East poll, was second with 79 points, and Salisbury, ranked No. 9 in the same poll, took third with 97 points. Franciscan, who beat the Pioneers a week ago at Carnegie Mellon, placed fifth with 158 points. Bloomsburg, another D-II school, was sixth with 178 points, and Messiah, ranked No. 8 in that Mid-East poll, placed seventh with 104 points.

Individually, sophomore Randi Robertson (Avon Lake) was the top Marietta finisher. She took 12th with a time of 15:24. Sophomore Kaity Smith (Essex Junction, Vt.) finished 17th, crossing the line in 15:39. Sophomore Shannon McDonald (Lorain/Amherst Steele) placed 29th (16:06) and junior Jessi Larrison (Batavia) placed 31st (16:09). Sophomore Logan Wern (North Canton/Hoover) rounded out the Pioneers finishers in 16:53, which placed 57th.

"This was a great confidence builder before the Conference championship," Head Coach Derek Stanley said. "This team is ready to represent the College at the OAC Championships." 

The Ohio Athletic Conference Championships, which will be hosted by John Carroll, are slated for Saturday (Oct. 27) at 11 a.m. in Highland Heights, Ohio.