BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Battling against some of the strongest teams in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, as well as a host of top-level national guests at the Paul Short Run, the Navy women's cross country team turned in a solid performance that saw the program finish within the top-10 on Friday. Racing on the 6k course at Lehigh's Goodman Complex as part of the collegiate gold competition, the Mids had all five of their scoring runners place amongst the top-108 in a field of 342 individuals to help the team place ninth overall.
Elizabeth Sullivan (Jr., Portsmouth, R.I.) took top individual honors for the Mids on Friday as she traversed the course in a time of 20:49.0 to finish in 37th place. Near the front of the field throughout the race, Sullivan was slightly over 10 seconds out a spot in the top-25 as Northern Arizona's Annika Reiss came in 25th at 20:38.1.
Ellie Abraham (So., Brookings, S.D.) was the second Navy runner to cross the finish line as she was 19 positions behind Sullivan in 56th with a 21:12.1 result. Fellow sophomore
Emily Boutin (Chicopee, Mass.) finished just outside the top-80 as she clocked in 81st with a time of 21:28.3.
The final two Mids to score team points for the program on Friday were captain
Jessica Nangle (Sr., Southampton, Pa.) and
Winter Boese (Jr., Clark, Colo.), who completed the race within 2.2 seconds of each other in 101st and 108th place, respectively with times of 21:43.6 and 21:45.8.
Anna Kovacs (Sr., Toledo, Ohio) and
Kelly Murray (Fr., Fort Washington, Pa.) gave Navy seven runners in the top-140 as Kovacs placed 119th with a 21:49.8 effort, while Murray was less than 10 seconds back with a time of 21:59.5, that ranked her 136th overall.
In the final team standings, No. 12 Northern Arizona and Villanova tied for first place with 85 points, though the Lumberjacks earned the team title due to a tie-breaker. Utah State finished third on the podium eight points back with a cumulative score of 93. No. 15 Georgetown and No. 3 (D2) Adams State rounded out the top-five.
Amongst Patriot League schools competing in Bethlehem on Friday, Navy placed second behind Army as the Black Knights ranked seventh overall in the field with 299 team points, while the Mids totaled 359 points. Boston University was the third highest placing Patriot League program as the Terriers came in 12th with 417 points. Lehigh and Bucknell made it five league opponents in the top-25 as the host Mountain Hawks placed 21st (573 pts), while the Bison were 25th (656 pts).
"Elizabeth really took charge today and it served her well in such a packed race," remarked head coach
Kim Lewnes. "We had some great performances and recognize the areas in need of improvement. We'll make adjustments necessary to achieve our goals moving forward.
"It was also very valuable to experience this course that we'll be racing on two more times this season for the conference and regional championships."
The Mids and Black Knights will have a chance to race shoulder-to-shoulder in two weeks in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. as Army hosts the 2021 Star Meet. The women's race is set for a 3:45 p.m. start at Bowdoin Park on Friday, Oct. 15.
