The Case Western Reserve University women's cross country team finished third among 13 Division III teams and ninth among 30 teams overall at the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Challenge on Friday night at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course in Cedarville, Ohio.
CWRU finished the meet with 220 points in the overall standings and 78 points in the Division III standings. Wittenberg won the Division III portion of the meet with 50 points, followed by John Carroll in second place with 52 points.
Competing at the 6K distance for the first time this season, sophomore Lauren Iagnemma paced the squad for the second time in as many competitions this year, placing 23rd out of 343 runners overall and sixth among 146 Division III runners with a time of 22:51.40. Senior Grace Jackson was the second Spartan to cross the finish line, placing 31st (ninth among DIII runners) with a time of 23:03.18, while running for the first time this season, sophomore Ashley Novak was 45th overall and 14th among DIII runners with a time of 23:21.21. Rounding out the team's group of scoring runners, both sophomore Arianna Holbrook and junior Marquis Globokar notched career-best times, with the former finishing 73rd overall in a time of 23:48.74 and the latter crossing the line in 74th place with a time of 23:49.20.
Completing the team's top-seven finishers were sophomore Ayla Grabenbauer, who was 76th overall with a time of 23:50.01, and senior Jessica Kwasny, who was 140th with a time of 24:54.87. Close behind Kwasny was sophomore Julia Hluck, who was 141st with a time of 24:56.35.
Other finishers on Friday for the Spartans included sophomore Anna Avila (165th, 25:25.41), first-year Kara Kister (199th, 25:59.46), junior Mandy Lam (218th, 26:17.64), sophomore Alyssa Storm (225th, 26:23.41), first-year Angie Getz (229th, 26:26.60), and junior Medha Patria (238th, 26:39.98).
Cedarville's Hannah Rhem was the top overall finisher with a time of 21:13.99, while Wittenberg's Ella Webster was the top Division III finisher with a time of 21:48.09.
The Spartans will be back in action next weekend, traveling to Newville, Pennsylvania (the site of the 2023 NCAA Division III Championships) for the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational. The women's 6K race is slated to start at 11:15 a.m.
