Belles take eighth in MIAA meet
By MOLLY McVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
The Belles' cross-country team ran to eighth place Saturday in their first all-league meet.
Calvin College, last season's national champions, won the MIAA Jamboree, with Hope College and Albion College following in second and third place.
The meet provided Saint Mary's with its first look at the entire league.
"This was our first chance to run against other MIAA teams, so now we know where we stand in the conference," junior Genevieve Yavello said.
Yavello finished 52nd in the meet with a time of 21:03. This was one place behind Melissa Miller, Saint Mary's highest finisher who had a time of 21:05.
The Belles went into Saturday's race without two of their top runners, senior Melissa Goss and sophomore Bridget Nugent.
Goss has been suffering from shin-splints all season and was unable to run.
Miller said that although the Belles' final place in the meet was disappointing, their individual times are improving.
"Everybody's personal goals have been met," she said. "It just looked like all the other teams have improved a lot too."
Winning the race was Jenny Ernst from Hope College. She finished with a time of 18:25.
Calvin College's runners took second thruough sixth places to clinch their victory. The last place finisher crossed the finish line within 12 seconds of Erinn Boot, their highest finisher.
As has been common this season, Saint Mary's runners finished very close to one another as well. The final three runners scoring for the Belles, Krista Hildebrand, Catherine Ward, and Megan Tenney, finished 64th, 77th and 80th, respectively.
The Belles do not face league teams until the championships at the end of the season. Until then, they hope to improve their times overall and think this will make a big difference.
"Basically, one runner would have mad a big difference [Saturday]," Miller said. "We're right there. Basically, we're just going to try to improve our times."
All Sports Stories for Monday, September 27, 1999
