Women's Cross Country | 9/1/2017 11:11:00 PM
HOUGHTON, NY – Junior
Becca Schwan (LeRoy, NY/LeRoy) was the race winner, as the RIT women's cross country team opened the 2017 season by finishing second out of six teams at the Highlander Twilight Invitational, hosted by Houghton College on Friday evening.
The Tigers, who opened the season ranked ninth in the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region, finished with a team score of 45 points. The College of New Jersey, ranked just ahead of the Tigers in the Atlantic Region, won the race with a team score of 20 points.
Schwan crossed the finish line just four tenths of a second ahead of The College of New Jersey's Erin Holzbaur in a time of 14:50.8 over the 4,000-meter course. It is Schwan's first collegiate cross country victory. She was an All-Liberty League and All-Atlantic Region selection in 2016.
Jennifer Crossen (Bason, NY/Oakfield-Alabama) was RIT's second fastest finisher, placing seventh overall in a time of 15:15.3.
Nicole Mackey (South New Berlin, NY/Unadilla Valley) placed ninth overall, crossing the finish line in 15:37.8.
Brooke Busa (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) was right behind Mackey in 11th with a time of 15:41.1.
Alexis Scott (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and
Kylie Trettner (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) were 18th and 19th overall. Scott crossed the finish line in 16:00.3, while Trettner was a half second behind.
Emma Snyder (Nunda, NY/Nunda) (21st, 16:02.5),
Alaina Celeste (Oswego, NY/Oswego) (23rd, 16:03.5),
Emme Perkins (Tully, NY/Tully) (26th, 16:07.7) and
Emma Canny (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) (29th, 16:21.6) all finished inside the top-30.
"I'm very happy with how we raced overall," said RIT women's cross country head coach
Dave Stevens. "We had some great races in some spots and in others we have room for improvement. This was a very good start to our season."
RIT is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Bill Fritz Invitational hosted by Rowan University. The meet begins at 12:45 p.m.
