SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Saint Mary's cross country team raced their way to seventh place at the Bethel Invitational on Friday afternoon at St. Patrick's County Park.

 

In a field of perennial NAIA powerhouses, No. 15 ranked Indiana Wesleyan took the team title with a score of 48. Grace (receiving votes) edged out No. 1 St. Francis (Ill.) by a point for second place with a 79. Indiana Tech (receiving votes) was fourth with a 134. Just four points separated fifth from seventh place as Michigan-Dearborn's 190 put the Wolverines ahead of sixth-place Madonna's 192 and a 194 from Saint Mary's.

 

The seventh-place finish matches the Belles' highest finish at the Bethel Invitational in program history, which Saint Mary's established in the Fall 2016 season.

 

Ava Gillis paced the Saint Mary's efforts with a lifetime 5k personal record time of 19:39.5 to finish 16th overall in a race of more than 170 runners. Amanda Tracy was the next runner for the Belles across the finish line with a time of 20:25.2 and 31st place. Riley Swope held off a runner from Michigan-Dearborn by half a second to finish 45th in a time of 20:54.4. Elizabeth Bollinger was deadlocked with an Indiana Tech runner as the freshman placed 52nd in 21:07.0 Anna DeMars wrapped up the team score with 66th place as she cut more than two minutes off of her time at the same race two seasons ago with a 21:27.3.

 

Haley Greene posted a 21:39.7 and finished 72nd on the day. Alexa Zeese edged out a runner from Olivet Nazarene by a tenth of a second for 77nd with a time of 21:51.6. Susanna Bernovich was just a few seconds back with a 21:57.8 to place 82nd. Julia Bobosky claimed 97th place with a time of 22:20.0, and Brigid Hull was 100th overall with a 22:23.4.

 

Julia Crowley posted a monstrous 5k personal record as the junior ran a 22:27.0 for a 30-second improvement upon her previous-best time at the distance while also finishing 103rd. Claudia Stiglitz led a string of three Saint Mary's runners who all finished within eight seconds of one another as Stiglitz turned in a 22:34.5 for 107th. Emily Blank and Anne Scheck finished back-to-back in 11th and 112th with times of 22:39.9 and 22:42.5, respectively.

 

Charley Lustig beat a Bethel runner by sixth-tenths of a second for 115th with a time of 22:48.0. Abby Seaton was less than two seconds back with a 22:49.8 to place 117th. Brigid Conmy, meanwhile, had a strong kick to finish the race with a time of 22:51.1 and 118th place to round out the Saint Mary's efforts on the afternoon.