Three Dukes Place in Top 10 at CAA Championships, Team Second Overall

Saturday, October 31

Charleston, S.C.

10 a.m.

James Madison University

CAA Championship

Three Dukes Place in Top 10 at CAA Championships, Team Second Overall

10/31/2015 11:29:00 AM | Cross Country

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – Juniors Carol Strock and Tessa Mundell as well as senior Kathleen Stewart all placed in the top 10 to lead the James Madison women's cross country team to a second-place finish at the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association Championships Saturday morning at Laurel Hill Plantation.

Mundell (10th), Stewart (7th) and Strock (4th) were named to the All-CAA Team, an honor which requires a top-12 finish. The distinction was the first of Strock's career while Mundell and Stewart were named to the team for the third and second times, respectively.

Strock, who led the Dukes in two races this season, finished fourth overall (fourth in scoring) out of 89 runners with a time of 20:53.8. The finish was 18 spots better than her finish at the CAA Championships in Boston, Mass., last year when she completed the course with a time of 22:21.6.

Stewart, who also led the Dukes in two races this season, placed seventh overall (seventh in scoring) with a time of 20:58.0. She and Strock were two of only seven runners to complete the 6,000-meter course in under 21 minutes. Stewart's performance today is a worthy follow-up to last year's CAA Championships where she paced the Dukes with a third-place finish thanks to a time of 20:58.48.

Also earning a top finish was Mundell, who has been one of JMU's top three runners in all but one race this season. The Mohnton, Pa., native finished in 10th place (10th in scoring) with a time of 21:17.8.

Rounding out the scoring were freshman Olivia Viparina and sophomore Erica Gray, who placed 16th overall (16th scoring) and 17th overall (17th scoring), respectively. The pair crossed the finish line only 0.2 seconds apart with times of 21:47.8 and 21.48.0.

William and Mary took the top spot for the fourth straight year and 21st all-time after four top-5 finishers and 23 points. The Tribe was led by senior Emily Stites, who won the individual title with a time of 20:00.2.

JMU tallied 54 points (4-7-10-16-17) as a team to record its third runner-up finish in the last four years and earn its lowest point total since scoring a 36 in 2012. Following the Dukes were Elon (66), College of Charleston (125), Delaware (153), Hofstra (163), Northeastern (173), Towson (210) and UNCW (260).

Six other runners competed for James Madison on Saturday. Freshman Erin Saunders narrowly missed a top-20 finish, placing 24th overall in 22:04.8. Freshman Jackie O'Shea earned a 30th overall placement with a time of 22:13.0.

Other finishes included freshman Erica Jackson (46th), senior Jenna Flickinger (51st), sophomore Nora Raher (56th) and sophomore Angelique DeMeo (66th).

JMU returns to action on Friday, Nov. 13, when the Dukes travel to Charlottesville, Va., for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. The women's regional race is set to begin at noon at Panorama Farms.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The team took over the JMUSports Snapchat account for the day and had a great time. Pictured above is the team posing in front of the finish line following today's race.

COACH'S QUOTE
"We stuck to the race plan and has some great finishes today," said head coach Dave Rinker. "We knew we would need to run as hard as we could for as long as we could to give William & Mary a run for their money."

LOOKING AHEAD
This year's NCAA Southeast Regional Championship will be hosted by the University of Virginia after Louisville had the honor in 2014. The Dukes have already run the course this season after competing in the UVa Duals on September 2. JMU finished 11^th out of 38 teams in last year's race, led by 28^th and 41^st place finishes by Kathleen Stewart and Tessa Mundell.