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The women’s cross country team traveled to the Saratoga State Park, N.Y. to participate in the 2002 Saratoga Invitational hosted by Union College. The Tigers finished seventh out of 12 teams.

Leading the way for the Tigers for the entire season has been Heidi Spalholz. Spalholz had a breakout race at Saratoga. Spalholz ran one minute and 15 seconds faster than her season best time, set on Sept. 7 at the Daniel Walker Invitational. Spalholz’s time at the Saratoga Invitational was 18:19 over the five kilometer course in wet conditions. In this effort, she captured second place and defeated two NCAA Division III All-Americans, Ithaca’s Amanda Laytham, (third) and St. Lawrence’s Amy Barr (fifth).

“Heidi ran the entire race competitively instead of settling in during the second mile. She is ready to race with the top runners in the district” noted Tigers coach Ken Switnicki For example, if Spalholz ran this identical time at NCAA Regional Qualifiers in 2002, she would have captured second place and qualified for Nationals.

Spalholz and the rest of the Tigers resume competition on Nov. 9 at the NYSCTC Championship Meet at SUNY Oswego at noon.