Women's Cross Country Wins Invitational Title
October 04, 2003 | Women's Cross Country
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- Three East Carolina University women's cross country runners placed among the top five to lead ECU to a first place finish at the Overton's/Pirate Invitational at Lake Kristi on Saturday, while their male counterparts placed second.
Caitlin Littlefield and Jessica Collins each completed the 5K course with a personal best time to place second and third respectively, behind Casey Phillips of Clemson. Littlefield finished the race in a time of 18:09.81 with Collins right on her heels at 18:10.71. Phillips won the race with a time of 17:43.83.
Johanna Allen continued her comeback from an injury that kept her out of competition the entire 2002 season and placed fifth with a time of 18:36.82. Lillian Ricardo recorded a to 10 finish, placing 10th with a time of 18:56.85.
The Lady Pirates captured the team title by nine points over the Clemson Tigers, 32-43. The ECU women's team has now won three of the four meets it has competed in this season.
The men's team barely missed making it a clean sweep for the Pirates at their first home meet of the year, coming in two points behind first place finisher Virginia Commonwealth, 28-30. Three Pirates placed among the top 10 and six among the top 15.
Kyle MacKenzie came in second place with a time of 24:17.32, behind Daniel Ndungu of VCU whom completed the 8K course in 24:00.11. Matt Hanlon registered a fourth place finish for East Carolina as he finished the race in a time of 24:48.64.
Also recording top 15 finishes for ECU were Matt Gorman (10th), Craig Schmidt (11th), James McLellan (12th), and Ron Delzer (13th). The four runners were separated by a total of 0:20 seconds.
ECU's next scheduled meet is the N.C. Intercollegiate Championships set to be held at Lake Kristi on October 18.
