MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Junior Marie-Louise Asselin finished first in the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y., to lead the West Virginia University cross country team to a second place finish today.
Asselin finished with a time of 20:10 followed by teammate , who placed third with a time of 20:29. Junior Keri Bland finished fourth with a time of 20:32 to place three Mountaineers in the top 10. Clara Grandt
Asselin is the first BIG EAST Women’s Cross Country individual champion in West Virginia and BIG EAST history. Asselin, Grandt and Bland were all named to the All-BIG EAST Women’s Team, which includes the top 15 finishers.
“To place first, third and fourth is remarkable in the BIG EAST Championship,” commented Head Coach Sean Cleary. “This conference is arguably the best in cross country in the history of the sport. We came in and we expected to win and fell a little bit short. We had 48 points and that is the first time since 1993 that 48 points or less didn’t win a championship. Second place is satisfying and today’s results really showed the front running talent of this group.”
Villanova took first place with 40 points by placing four runners in the top 10, including Frances Koons who took second place with a time of 20:13. The Mountaineers finished second with 48 points followed by Georgetown (74) in third, Providence (123) in fourth place, and Syracuse (129) points.
Notre Dame finished sixth followed by Louisville (222), Marquette (222), Cincinnati (255), USF (328), Rutgers (335), Connecticut (369), DePaul (395), St. John’s (397), Pitt (426) and Seton Hall (522).
Sophomore Kaylyn Christopher finished 18th with a time of 21:09, followed by Ahna Lewis (21:17) in 22nd place. Jessica O’Connell (21:30) finished in 29th place and Kate Harrison (21:34) finished 32nd out of 137 total runners.
Up next, the Mountaineers will compete in the NCAA Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 15. WVU returns to West Windsor Fields, in Princeton, N.J., the same course where the team took fourth place on Sept. 13, at the Princeton Invitational
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Junior Marie-Louise Asselin finished first in the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y., to lead the West Virginia University cross country team to a second place finish today.
Asselin finished with a time of 20:10 followed by teammate , who placed third with a time of 20:29. Junior Keri Bland finished fourth with a time of 20:32 to place three Mountaineers in the top 10. Clara Grandt
Asselin is the first BIG EAST Women’s Cross Country individual champion in West Virginia and BIG EAST history. Asselin, Grandt and Bland were all named to the All-BIG EAST Women’s Team, which includes the top 15 finishers.