Belles place seventh at Benedictine Invite
By MOLLY McVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
Saint Mary's cross country team continued improving this season, as they ran to a seventh-place finish in the Benedictine University Invitational Friday.
Last year, Saint Mary's finished ninth out of 25 teams and looked to beat that mark this season. It moved up to seventh out of 26 teams this time around.
"It was a very difficult course in terms of hills and footing," head coach Dave Barstis said. "I was very happy with it, especially since we had not seen it before."
The Belles had not seen the course before running it in the meet.
But that wasn't the only thing that left them unprepared.
They arrived only half an hour before the meet, barely having time to warm up or check in.
They were also without two of their top five runners. Bridget Nugent and Katie Ward were unable to attend the meet, and Melissa Goss was not at full capacity, still recovering from shin splints.
"This was a tougher course than last week, and we got there very late," junior Genevieve Yavello said. "I have to say, everyone rose to the occasion and performed well."
Yavello was Saint Mary's top finisher on the afternoon. She finished 24th overall with a time of 21 minutes and 6 seconds.
Huntington College won the meet, with Lewis College and St. Xavier College coming in second and third, respectively.
Agnes Stalmach from Lewis College won the race individually, with a time of 19:09.
The Belles have three meets left this season and are going to concentrate on the MIAA championships at the end of the season.
"We have Defiance coming up next," Barstis said. "I'm looking past that meet to the championships at the end of October."
With the Belles looking to have their team at full strength for only the second time this season, they hope to surprise the conference at the championships.
"I think having everyone back will push us up farther in the conference than last year," Yavello said. "We'll place better than last year, and it will be an unexpected finish."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, October 12, 1999
