Aug. 29, 2008
• Mount St. Mary's 5k Duals Results
EMMITSBURG, Md. - Navy women's cross country runner Amy Watson (Jr./Hampstead, Md.) boasted the fastest overall time as the Midshipmen cruised past six schools in the Mount St. Mary's 5k Duals on Friday afternoon to kick off their 2008 campaign.
The Midshipmen won the event for the second time in as many trips up to Mount St. Mary's home course, with the last one coming in 2004. Navy knocked off three-time defending-champion American, 19-44, and bested Maryland, 15-49. The Midshipmen produced perfect scores of 15-50 over George Washington, Mount St. Mary's, Temple and UMBC.
Navy delivered seven of the nine-fastest times of the day and featured just a 33.01-second split between its first- and fifth-best runners.
"We did a really nice job today," stated Navy head coach Karen Boyle. "We had been practicing running in small groups and performed well from the start. It was good to see some of our younger runners make the step up to the collegiate level and produce an immediate impact after plebe summer. The whole team worked well together. It's a very cohesive group and they are quite supportive of each other."
Despite racing on a muddy course with several large puddles due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay, Watson bested the field with a time of 18:46.98, 10.24 seconds ahead of Octavia Rinehardt's time from American. The victory was the second of Watson's career, as she crossed the finish line first in last year's Star Meet win at Army.
Katie Rentz (So./San Diego, Calif.) came in third place with a time of 19:02.22 seconds, soon followed by teammate Erica Ziel's (Jr./Saginaw, Mich.) 19:07.84 clocking for fourth place. Maureen Dooley (Sr./Durham, Conn.) placed fifth with a 19:19.00 showing and Marina McGrail (Fr./Manchester, Vt.) rounded out the scoring-five with a sixth-place time of 19:19.99.
Jess Palacio (Fr./Sun Valley, Nev.) and Jenny Rubin (Jr./Papillion, Neb.) both served as displacing scorers for the Mids on Friday. Palacio finished seventh overall with a time of 19:30.51, while Rubin landed ninth with her 19:36.87 showing.
The Midshipmen (6-0) will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 6, when they head up to Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y., to compete at the Fordham Invitational. The meet is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m.
