Posted: Sep 16, 2023
WARRENVILLE, Ill. - In a field of several nationally and regionally ranked programs, the Saint Mary's cross country team placed eleventh at the Wheaton Gil Dodds Invitational on Saturday.
No. 2 nationally ranked University of Chicago took the team title with a perfect score of 15 after sweeping the top five places. No. 6 ranked Washington University in St. Louis was second with 58 points, and No. 27 ranked Hope placed third with an 81. Ripon (176) and host Wheaton (193) rounded out the top five in the field of 19 teams. Chicago's Maddie Kelly won the individual title with a time of 21:12.4.
Amanda Tracy paced the Belles on the day with a personal record time of 23:05.4 - a 21-second improvement from last year's NCAA Regional race time - to place 28th overall and earn 25 points toward the team score. Haley Greene ran a 24:38.0 to finish 85th overall and contribute 56 points to the team score. Savannah Paulson was just a few strides back of Greene and turned in a 24:40.6 in her first collegiate 6k race for 86th overall and 57 points.
Cecilia Conrad posted a time of 25:05.2 in her first 6k for the Belles and was 103rd overall (69 points). Jordan Siminski edged a runner from Wheaton by half of a second to take 106th overall in a time of 25:07.2 and earn 71 points to wrap up the team score.
Susanna Bernovich ran a 25:20.1 and placed 113th in the field of more than 250 runners. Isabelle Auch beat out a runner by less than a second to take 122nd with a 25:33.4. Mary Weber came in 164th in a time of 26:26.3. Ellie York posted a 27:38.2 and finished just ahead of a runner from Elmhurst for 190th.
The Belles are back on the racing paths on Friday, September 29 when they compete in the Calvin University Knight Invitational, which will take place at South Christian High School.