Statesmen Take Second at St. Ambrose Meet

Bettendorf--The William Penn women's cross country team competed in a smaller event Saturday and once again found itself in the middle of the standings at the St. Ambrose Invitational.

The Statesmen finished second out of three teams with 47 points, while host St. Ambrose won with 31 points.  Four other schools brought athletes, but could not field full squads.

Kaitlyn Knoche of St. Ambrose paced the 38-runner field with a 5K time of 19:45.

Freshmen Briana Admire (Galesburg, Ill., Biology) and Charlotte Hele (Apple Valley, Calif., Undecided) topped the navy and gold in seventh and eighth place, respectively.  Admire crossed the line in 20:48, while Hele posted a time of 21:21.

Michaela Kmiec (Sr., Centerville, Texas., Exercise Science) placed 12th in 21:37, while Roselaure Fuller (Jr., Pella, Iowa, Nursing) was next in 23rd in a time of 23:22.  Morgan Taylor (So., Galesburg, Ill., Nursing) concluded William Penn's scoring in 30th at 25:47.

Ameline Garza (So., Edinburg, Texas, Sociology) also competed and ended up 36th in a time of 28:29.

"Our ladies had a great week as a whole and we capped it off with a great finish," Head Coach Caleb Drake said.  "We edged out the team that is ranked sixth in our conference as half of our ladies improved their times from last week.  I am so proud of them for believing in themselves and competing hard today.  This gives us some momentum for the upcoming week of training and our season."

Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Des Moines on September 23 to compete in the Grand View Invitational.