Women's XC stays strong

The women’s cross country team ended its five-meet road trip with another excellent performance. They followed up last week’s sixth-place showing at St. Lawrence University with a fourth-place finish at the SUNY Geneseo Invitational on Saturday. “We ran extremely well, and everyone who raced had their best 5K race of the season,” Head Coach Barbara Hartwig said.For the first time this season, the team was led by junior Jessica VanBinsbergen, who finished the five-kilometer race 25th among the scorers. She posted a time of 19:35. Freshman Kellie Hasselwander was 27th, completing the race in 19:46. With a time of 20:04, sophomore Rebecca Hayes finished 30th. Freshman Stephanie Holowacz ran 20:17, placing her 35th. Right behind her, freshman Louisa Slocum finished in 20:18, finishing 36th, and fifth among the women. Also placing in the top 40 was freshman Sarah Hotaling and junior Kate Pohlman, who finished 38th and 40th respectively. With just 43 seconds between the first and fifth runners, the team had by far its smallest gap of the season. “Our goal this week was to work together in groups to push each other, and we did that,” Hartwig said. Not to be overlooked, the women improved against a number of opponents who had beaten them earlier in the season. “I think they feel pretty good about how they competed,” Hartwig said. “We beat some teams that have beaten us before. It was a fun weekend.”This weekend the team remains home for the two-mile Alumni Run, which will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Genesee Valley Park. They return to competition the following weekend, when they will host the UR Invitational on Oct. 16, also at Genesee Valley Park. That meet will serve as their final competitive preparation for University Athletics Association Championships at the end of the month. Swidler can be reached at dswidler@campustimes.org.