The Case Western Reserve University women's cross country team turned in a strong performance on Saturday afternoon, placing second out of 29 teams at the 40th-annual Mike Woods Invitational, hosted by SUNY Geneseo at the Geneseo Warplane Museum in Geneseo, N.Y.
The Spartans were led by senior Jana Fisher, who placed third out of 321 total finishers in the 6K race. She crossed the finish time in a time of 22:03.8, just 20 seconds slower than the winning time of 21:43.0, recorded by Geneseo's Kathleen McCarey.
Following Fisher for the Spartans was senior Susanna Henry, who placed 13th overall with a time of 22:51.2. Senior Julia Kocherzat added a 26th-place finish with a time of 23:25.5, and was trailed closely by junior Catherine Phillips, who placed 30th overall with a time of 22:30.9. First-year Medha Patria was the team's final scoring finisher, crossing the line in 48th-place with a time of 23:53.7. Rounding out CWRU's top seven were junior Melissa Phung, who placed 54th with a time of 24:02.4, and graduate student Grace Kemerer, who finished 74th with a time of 24:24.7.
Other competitors in action for CWRU on Saturday included senior Maddy Nacci (88th, 24:41.7), sophomore Jessica Kwasny (100th, 24:51.9), graduate student Olivia Battistoni (115th, 25:09.0), graduate student Elise Epstein (141st, 25:30.2), first-year Mandy Lam (146th, 25:35.6), junior Claire Daugherty (157th, 25:44.0), junior Suki Bristol (179th, 26:09.7) and graduate student Molly Gniady (186th, 26:21.1).
The Spartans finished with 118 total points, finished second behind host and 13th-ranked Geneseo, which completed the meet with 27 total points. 15th-ranked Middlebury rounded out the top-three teams with 129 points. CWRU also placed ahead of #26 RIT and #30 St. Lawrence in the final standings on Saturday.
Case Western Reserve will return to action on Saturday, October 16 at the Inter-Region Rumble, hosted by Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.
