Eagles Cross Country Competes at Auburn Invitational
9/30/2007 2:13:00 AM | Track & Field/XC
AUBURN, Ala. - The Georgia Southern cross country team finished in 16th place at the Auburn Invitational on Saturday morning.
“I was really happy with the way we ran today,” said coach Natalie Smith. “We ran against a tremendous field (Florida, Iowa, Auburn) just to name a few, which will definitely help us as we head into our conference schedule.”
Senior Abby Bloom (Snellville, Ga.) paced the Eagles with a time of 19:00.45 crossing the finish line in 73rd place. Bloom has finished the first four meets as the top Georgia Southern runner. Sophomore Laura Fuller (Cartersville, Ga.) was the second Eagle to finish in 98th place and a time of 19:39.59. Shauntel Jennings (Stone Mountain, Ga.) helped Georgia Southern close the gap as coach Smith had hoped for when she finished close behind Fuller with a time of 19:56.69.
“Individually our top three ran very well,” said Smith. “They committed and believed they could run with the best and they proved that to themselves today.”
Freshman Kassi Lee (Elberton, Ga.) ran strong with a time of 21:21.06, while teammate Kellie Wesson (Douglasville, Ga.) was right on her heels finishing in 21:44.89. Sophomore Katie Abercrombie (Newnan, Ga.) and freshman Caitlin Coakley (Lawrenceville, Ga.) crossed the line in 22.42.11 and 23:28.98 and Meredith Lee (Kennesaw, Ga.) finished the 5K race in 25:49.26.
“We're going to use the next two weeks to build and drop our times, said Smith. “We had much better gap times this week, but we still need to improve. I am looking forward to the Furman meet. It's an elite course, but our schedule has prepared us for the upcoming conference schedule.”
The Eagles will next take the course October 13, when they head to Greenville, South Carolina to compete in the Furman Invitational.
