The Case Western Reserve University women's cross country team placed fourth out of 21 teams at the 2024 Grizzly Invitational at Blue River Park in Shelbyville, Indiana on Saturday morning.

The Spartans finished the meet with a score of 110, placing behind first-place DePauw (47 points), second-place Trine (80), and third-place Ohio Northern (84). Kalamazoo completed the top-five teams at the meet, scoring 127 points to place behind CWRU.

The combination of juniors Ashley Novak and Lauren Iagnemma provided a strong one-two punch for the Spartans for the second-straight meet. Competing in the team's first 6K race of the campaign, Novak crossed the line sixth out of 238 finishers with a time of 22:48.42, while Iagnemma was eighth with a mark of 22:59.61.

Junior Arianna Holbrook was the third Spartan to cross the finish line, placing 25th with a time of 23:55.39. Three CWRU runners crossed the line consecutively with first-year Ciara Ledford finishing 36th in a time of 24:22.93, junior Julia Hluck placing 37th in a time of 24:23.94, and first-year Becca Liaw placing 38th in a time of 24:25.86. Junior Anna Avila was the team's seventh finisher, placing 44th with a mark of 24:38.48.

Other finishers for the Spartans on Saturday included first-year Cecilia Postma (53rd, 24:51.56), sophomore Pimada Phongsuriya (66th, 25:08.07), first-year Julia Walko (74th, 25:12.20), senior Mandy Lam (80th, 25:25.17), and first-year Anna Feland (97th, 26:01.16).

Wilmington's Faith Duncan won the women's 6K race with a time of 21:25.82.

CWRU will be off from intercollegiate competition next weekend as the squad hosts its annual Alumni Meet at the University Farm in Hunting Valley, Ohio on Saturday, September 14 at 10:00 a.m. The Spartans will pick up their intercollegiate schedule on Friday, September 20 with the All-Ohio Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio.

Spartan Notes

• Saturday's race provided CWRU a preview of the course for the 2024 NCAA DIII Great Lakes Regional Meet, scheduled for November 16 at Blue River Park.

• Five Spartan runners competed in their first collegiate 6K at the Grizzly Invitational - Ledford, Liaw, Postma, Walko, and Feland. In addition, Phongsuriya (a sophomore transfer from Division I Binghamton) and Feland each competed in their first-ever race for CWRU.

• Four of the Spartans' top-five runners (Novak, Iagnemma, Holbrook, and Liaw) were unchanged from last week's Sudeck Invitational. Ledford cracked the top-five runners for the first time in her career, moving from sixth last week to fourth this week.