ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's cross country team began its 2020 season on Friday with a home test against the Pitt Panthers of the Atlantic Coast Conference. With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the makeup of the Mids' schedule and training capabilities this fall, Navy hit on all cylinders and cruised to a perfect 15-50 victory as the first eight runners to cross the finish line of the 6k race were all Midshipmen student-athletes. In her collegiate debut, freshman
Ellie Abraham (Brookings, S.D.) took top honors with a six-second victory over the field at the USNA Cross Country Course.
A highly-regarded recruit and two-time South Dakota State Champion, Abraham showed little nerves in her first collegiate race for the Mids as she turned in the winning time of 21:45.34. Another newcomer,
Jessica Nangle (Jr., Southampton, Pa.) came in second place at 21:51.62. Senior
Emily Craig (Reistertown, Md.) made it a clean one-two-three finish for the Mids as she posted a time of 22:07.41.
The trio of
Maddie Warrender (Jr., Mount Wolf, Pa.),
Lael Flores (So., Harleysville, Pa.) and
Elizabeth Sullivan (So., Portsmouth, R.I.) crossed consecutively in fourth, fifth and sixth place with times of 22:10.63, 22:22.10 and 22:30.41, respectively.
The final two Navy runners to complete the top-eight sweep in the 6,000 meter contest were
Emily Boutin (Fr., Chicopee, Mass.) and
Winter Boese (So., Clark, Colo.). Boutin finished her inaugural collegiate race at 22:38.63, while Boese was 5.1 seconds back in eighth place at 22:43.73.
Pitt's first competitor to finish the race on Friday was Ally Brunton, who crossed in ninth place nearly five seconds behind Boese with a time of 22:48.68.
Anna Kovacs (Jr., Toledo, Ohio) made it nine Navy runners in the top-10 as she placed tenth at 23:06.55.
"The women took advantage of a great opportunity today," exclaimed head coach
Kim Lewnes. "I'm really proud of how they got after it in their first race of the year. We're extremely grateful to Pitt for making the trip. We'll learn from today's race and keep improving with Army on the horizon in two weeks."
The Mids' second meet of their abridged 2020 season is scheduled for Saturday, October 17 as the Army Black Knights travel to Annapolis of the annual Star Meet. The competition which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA is set for a 10 a.m. start.
