Oct. 29, 2005

• Patriot League Championship Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Junior Justine Whipple (Duxbury, Mass.) placed third overall among 87 runners as Navy finished fifth out of eight schools in the Patriot League Cross Country Championship at Lehigh on Saturday afternoon.

Bucknell won the league championship with 42 points, 25 ahead of second-place finisher and preseason-favorite Army. Lehigh placed third on its home course with 77 points, followed by American's 102 points, Navy's 105 points, Lafayette's 132 points, Colgate's 152 points and Holy Cross' 246 points.

Whipple ran the Goodman Campus course in 21:05, the fastest 6k mark of the junior's career. Her previous fastest time came on the very same course four weeks prior in the Paul Short Invitational, registering a 21:30.0 showing on Oct. 1.

For her third-place effort, Whipple was named to the First-Team All-Patriot League, the first all-league distinction of the junior's career. Earlier this season, Whipple was named the Patriot League Runner of the Week for a 14th-place showing out of 210 competitors at the Fordham Invitational.

The junior has owned Navy's fastest time in each of the five races she has raced in this season. With a third-place finish on Saturday, Whipple has placed in the top-three in three races this season. She posted the fastest time against Army in the Star Meet two weeks ago and previously had a second-place time in the Salty Sea Dog Open.

Junior Emily Castro (Centennial, Colo.), a First-Team All-Patriot League runner in 2003 and 2004, recorded Navy's second-fastest time with a 15th-place 22:11 time on Saturday. Castro's effort was three seconds faster than her mark on the Goodman Campus on Oct. 1 in the Paul Short Invitational.

Freshman Maureen Dooley (Durham, Conn.) finished with the Mids' third-best time, a 22:47 showing, for 29th-place overall. Immediately following Dooley was sophomore Kyleigh Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.), last year's Patriot League Rookie of the Year, with a 22:48 time. Freshman Chelsea Decker (Middlebrook, Va.) rounded out the scoring-five with a 34th-place effort of 22:54.

Junior Erin Demchko (Nanuet, N.Y.) and sophomore Vicki Moore (Burke, Va.) placed 42nd and 43rd overall as Navy's displacing runners.

The Midshipmen make their third and final trip of the season back to Bethlehem, Pa., for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by Lehigh on Saturday, Nov. 12.

PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORES

1. Bucknell      422. Army          673. Lehigh        774. American      1025. Navy          1056. Lafayette     1327. Colgate       1528. Holy Cross    246

NAVY COMPETITORS

3.  Justine Whipple - 21:0515. Emily Castro - 22:1129. Maureen Dooley - 22:4730. Kyleigh Millhouse - 22:4834. Chelsea Decker - 22:5442. Erin Demchko - 23:0743. Vicki Moore - 23:0946. Shannon Reese - 23:1549. Beth Catherwood - 23:2358. Arwyn Becker - 23:4562. Sammy Jo Andrews - 23:54