Sept. 1, 2006
HAMILTON, N.Y. - Navy women's cross country runner Justine Whipple (Duxbury, Mass.) won the 6,000-meter race to lead the Midshipmen to four victories at the Harry Lang Invitational on Friday evening.
The races were moved ahead one day due to expected heavy rains associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto.
Navy defeated Syracuse, 21-34, Colgate, 20-38, Vermont, 19-44, and St. Rose, 15-50, to improve its dual-meet record to 4-0. Friday's victories mark Navy's fourth top-team performance in its season-opening meet during the past-six years.
"I think we performed very well considering it was our first meet of the season and the race was held one day early," stated Navy head coach Karen Boyle. "Our primary goals were to get a look at our team and gain experience on this year's Patriot League Championship course. We still have some work to do, but our depth is very encouraging."
Whipple, fresh off her seventh-place performance at the World University Triathlon Championship six days ago in Switzerland, ran the 6,000-meter course in 22:57. The senior's clocking broke a Harry Lang Invitational record by nearly one minute and recorded the fifth-fastest time in course history. Whipple's victory marks the second of her career, as she defeated Army in last year's Star Meet. She also has posted Navy's fastest time in each of the last-seven races she has competed in.
Fellow senior Emily Castro (Centennial, Colo.) placed third overall with a time of 23:11, followed by senior team captain Erin Demchko's (Nanuet, N.Y.) fifth-place clocking of 23:40. Junior Kyleigh Millhouse (Boiling Springs, Pa.) also landed among the top-10, finishing eighth with a time of 23:48. Castro and Demchko's efforts each surpassed the previous meet record time, while Millhouse's performance tied the pre-existing mark.
Senior Caitlyn Harrington (Lavaca, Ark.) rounded out Navy's scoring-five with a 24:14 showing to finish 13th overall. Sophomore Maureen Dooley (Durham, Conn.) landed 15th overall with a time of 24:17, while senior Susan Richardson (Louisville, Colo.) finished in 24:17 to place 17th and senior Juliann Jordan (Kaneohe, Hawai'i) placed 20th with a time of 24:33.
In the 4,200-meter race, Lafayette edged Navy with a 25-point tally to claim the team title. The Midshipmen, who competed only freshmen in this event, accumulated 26 points to finish second, followed by Vermont in third with 37 points.
Amy Watson (Hampstead, Md.) posted the fastest Navy time of 17:31 to finish third overall. Kaitlin Baker (Rockford, Mich.) landed fifth with a 17:37 showing, joined by Emi Parker's (Tacoma, Wash.) 17:40 clocking in seventh place and Erica Ziel's (Saginaw, Mich.) 11th-place time of 17:50. Each of the four freshmen's efforts ranked among the top-20 times in the history of the 4,200-meter race at the Harry Lang Invitational.
"Our plebes performance is definitely a promising sign for the future," commented Boyle. "They are still trying to get their legs back from plebe summer. Despite having to run the opening mile of the race uphill, they remained focused, which is quite encouraging to see."
Navy returns home to host the Salty Seadog Invitational at the USNA Cross Country Course on Saturday, Sept. 16. The meets is slated to begin at 10 a.m.
