ROCHESTER – Senior Aubrie Russell earned an eighth place finish to lead the St. Bonaventure University women's cross country team to fourth place overall out of 20 teams competing Saturday at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College.
Russell turned in her fastest time of the year by running the 5K course in 18:53.8, easily surpassing the time of 19:04.1 she ran in last year's event.
A group of young Bonnies also scored well on Saturday – freshmen Emily Izydorcak and Rachel Guyer finished 13th and 14th with times of 18:59.8 and 19:00.6 respectively. Both times marked the best of the season for the Bonnies' first-year runners.
Sophomore Hailey Gattuso also turned in a season-best time of 19:27.5 to finish 29th. Another freshman, Lindsay Weaver also continued the Bonnies trend of season-bests with her time of 19:54.7 to finish 44th overall.
Host Roberts Wesleyan took the win with 53 total team points. Fredonia (86), Daemen (104), St. Bonaventure (108) and Mercyhurst (125) completed the top five team finishes.
Also competing for the Bonnies, sophomore Nicolette DiMura clocked in at 20:21.5 and Julia Mericle finished at 21:21.7. Other competitors for the Brown and White included Alexis Young (21:36.0), Maggie Schunk (21:36.1), Courtney Brinsky (21:42.2), Allison Field (23:09.6) and Morgan Soule (23:13.8).
"They had a good day, good course, fast course and good competition," Bonnies head coach Bob MacFarlane said. "I give the two freshmen [Guyer and Izydorczak] a lot of credit and Aubrie [Russell] leading them through because those three packed with each other. Another one I give a lot of credit to is Hailey [Gattuso], who's running hurt, but she did very, very well. Our freshmen and sophomores are doing great. I can't comment enough on how hard they're working through things."
St. Bonaventure returns to competition on Oct. 2 at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa.
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