The Case Western Reserve University women's cross country team began its championship season on Saturday at the University Athletic Association Championship, hosted by Washington University (Mo.) at the SIUE Cross Country Course in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Spartans finished the meet in seventh place in the team standings.

Team Results

• CWRU finished the meet with 188 points to place seventh out of the eight teams at the meet.

• NYU, ranked fifth in Division III, won the women's race with a score of 25. Following the Violets in the standings were seventh-ranked Carnegie Mellon (54), 10th-ranked Chicago (80), 12th-ranked WashU (91), 16th-ranked Emory (122), and 26th-ranked Brandeis (180). Rochester placed behind CWRU, finishing with 232 points.

Individual Results

• First-year Halina Tompkins was the first Spartan to cross the line, placing 29th out of 78 finishers on Saturday. She notched a time of 22:36.7.

• Tompkins was followed less than two seconds later by fellow first-year Francesca Taracila, who was 33rd overall with a mark of 22:38.6.

• Completing the top-five finishers for the Spartans on Saturday were senior Arianna Holbrook, who was 49th with a time of 22:53.8, first-year Reid Smith, who was 50th with a time of 22:58.3, and senior Ayla Grabenbauer, who was 52nd with a time of 23:03.3.

• CWRU's displacers at the UAA Championship were sophomore Cecilia Postma, who was 57th with a time of 23:22.1, and senior Lauren Iagnemma, who was 64th with a time of 23:33.0.

• Also in action for CWRU on Saturday were first-year Elena Von Handorf (65th, 23:37.7), sophomore Becca Liaw (69th, 23:54.2), and first-year Aditi Mukundhan (74th, 24:29.4).

Spartan Notes

• Taracila and Smith each notched career-best times on Saturday. Taracila's time bettered her previous career-best mark by four-tenths of a second, while Smith's time was a 26-second improvement on her personal best 6K time.

• Three additional Spartans - Holbrook, Grabenbauer, and Iagnemma - recorded season-best 6K times at the UAA Championship.

• Tompkins has been the team's top finisher in all four races she has run this year.

• The Spartans entered Saturday's meet ranked fourth in the Great Lakes Region. All eight UAA teams entered the meet ranked in their respective region.

Up Next

CWRU's top runners will turn their attention to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, November 15. Meanwhile, the Spartans will also send a contingent of runners to the Wooster Twilight 5K Challenge in Wooster, Ohio, on Friday, November 7.