ALBANY – The St. Bonaventure University women's cross country team returned to competition on Saturday at the 49th Annual Great Dane Invitational with senior Aubrie Russell leading the way, helping the Bonnies to finish eighth overall in the team standings.

The women's 5K race featured 186 athletes from 17 schools with host Albany taking the team title with 30 points. Marist was second at 82 points with Middlebury (85), Sacred Heart (89) and Manhattan (123) completing the top five. Siena (151) placed sixth while Colgate (239), St. Bonaventure (267), LIU Post (284) and Binghamton (293) all turned in top 10 team finishes.

Russell again wrote her name in the Bonnies record books with a time of 19:26.7, which was good for a 52nd place finish. It marks another Bonnies all-time top 10 run for Russell as her finish on Saturday stands as the ninth-fastest 5K time in program history. Russell already owns the fourth-fastest St. Bonaventure women's 5K with her performance at the Roberts Wesleyan course in Rochester earlier this fall.

Freshman standouts Rachel Guyer and Emily Izydorcak again were strong for the Brown and White with Guyer running a 19:53.1 to finish 74th. Izydorcak followed right behind at a 19:54.7 for 76th.

Also in the scoring for the Bonnies were sophomores Hailey Gattuso (19:55.3) and Nicolette DiMura (20:16.2).

Freshman Lindsay Weaver turned in a time of 20:39.0 while junior Julia Mericle clocked in at 21:46.7. Juniors Courtney Brinsky (22:02.9) and Alexis Young (22:07.5), senior Maggie Schunk (22:32.5) and junior Allison Field (23:02.5) all competed for the Bonnies as well.

The Bonnies will now take the next week to prepare for Atlantic 10 Championships to be held in Richmond on Oct. 31. 

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