Stewart Leads Dukes to 5th-Place Finish at Paul Short

Friday, October 2

Bethlehem, Pa.

10 a.m.

James Madison University

Paul Short Run

10/2/2015 11:49:00 AM | Cross Country

Gold Race Results Open Race Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A 10th-place individual performance by senior Kathleen Stewart led the James Madison cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the Paul Short Run in on Friday afternoon on the Goodman Campus at Lehigh University.

Competing in the women's "Gold Race" which was made up of 35 teams and 312 runners, Stewart paced the Dukes with a time of 20:51 in her first race of the 2015 season. "Coming off of her injury, Kathleen ran a great race," head coach Dave Rinker said. "She's looked really good in training and I think she was where she needed to be, confidence-wise, coming into today."

Juniors Carol Strock and Tessa Mundell completed the six-kilometer course in 17th and 28th with times of 21:00 and 21:14, respectively. Running at a pace of 5:38, Strock set a personal record, surmounting her previous best in a 6K of 21:48.6, set at the 2014 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships.

Rounding out the Dukes' scoring were freshman Olivia Viparina, whose 21:35 time was good enough for 60th overall (57th scoring), and sophomore Erica Gray, who took 103rd overall (98th scoring) with a time of 22:01.

The team's fifth-place showing was JMU's best finish at Paul Short since the 2010 season when Alison Parris nabbed third place to lead the team to an overall third-place finish. Temple's Blanca Fernandez won the race with a time of 20:27 while Guelph University won the title with 105 points, 50 points ahead of Cornell.

Freshmen Erin Saunders and Erica Jackson also competed in the Gold Race, crossing the line in 22:22 and 22:38 for 131th and 160th places.

Prior to the Gold Race, five Dukes competed in the "Open Race," made up of 298 competitors. Senior Jenna Flickinger led the team with a 40th-place finish with a time of 22:56. Making her collegiate debut, freshman Jackie O'Shea produced a time of 23:04, good forth 46th, which was just seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Angelique DeMeo, who was 52nd in 23:13.

Freshmen Nicole Harrison and Madeleine McCarty rounded out JMU's group, placing 86th and 115th with times of 23:46 and 24:13, respectively. Unaffiliated runner Megan Curham came out on top in the race with a time of 20:16.

The Dukes will have next weekend off before returning to action Saturday, Oct. 17 at Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.

NOTEWORTHY
Continuing their strong start to the season, Strock and Mundell have now finished in the top-3 for JMU in every race held in 2015.

COACH'S QUOTE
"Today we wanted to be aggresive, focused and confident and we did that," noted head coach Dave Rinker. "A couple runners went a little too quick out of the gate, but I'd rather go too fast than too slow and we followed the overall race plan in both the Open Race and Gold Race. I'm very happy with today's results."

NEXT UP
At Pre-Nationals in Louisville, the Women's Red race is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. while the Women's Black race is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park.