Oregon State
Washington Invitational
OSU Seventh At Washington Invitational
September 18, 2004 | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 18, 2004
SEATTLE, Wash. - Oregon State placed seventh in the 11-team field at the Washington Invitational women's cross country meet Saturday morning at Lincoln Park. The Beavers' top finishers among the 118 runners were Neoma Palmer in 14th place and Ashley Younce in 16th.
Idaho won the team title with 40 points while Washington was second with 54. With its 165 points, OSU was just 12 points out of a fourth-place tie in the meet.
"I was pleased with how we did," OSU coach Kelly Sullivan said. "We definitely can run better, which is really, really encouraging. It's like I told the ladies - I don't think there's a program in the country that has potential to improve as much as we do based off youth and inexperience. We ran against some pretty good kids."
It was just the Beavers' second cross country meet in 17 years. Oregon State revived its women's cross country and track programs this fall after dropping the sport following the 1987-88 school year.
Individual champion was Sarina Monro of Club Northwest as she covered the 6,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 9.97 seconds. Palmer finished in 21:43.02 and Younce in 21:47.68; Palmer was running her first race of the season after earning NCAA Division III All-America honors at Bowdoin last year and Younce had placed third at the Pier Park Invitational a week earlier.
"I was really pleased with Neoma in her debut and Ashley backed up what she did a week ago," Sullivan said.
OSU freshman Kaitlin Poggi was 51st in 22:56.09 while fellow frosh Lauren Denfeld - who had been recruited as a middle-distance prospect - was 63rd in 23:13.56. Jean-Marie Peterson, who had an outstanding prep career but chose OSU for academics and did not compete during 2003-04, was 94th in 24:17.33.
"Kaitlin, in her first college race, did great job," Sullivan said. "And so far, Lauren has been the biggest surprise in our program; she never ran cross country in high school but was soccer player and went to state the last two years in the 300 hurdles. It was Jean-Marie's first competitive race in over a year-and-a-half and she went out a little too anxious and paid for it, but within a month she'll be one of our top 3-4 runners."
"We're doing it with smoke and mirrors right now, but we're having fun doing it."
WASHINGTON INVITATIONAL
TEAM SCORES: 1. Idaho 40; 2. Washington 54; 3. Portland 113; 4. Willamette 154; 5. San Francisco 154; 6. Boise State 156; 7. Oregon State 165; 8. Portland State 177; 9. Eastern Washington 199; 10. Washington State 255; 11. Calvin 276.
TOP INDIVIDUALS AND OREGON STATE FINISHERS (FIELD OF 118): 1. Sabrina Monro, Club Northwest, 20:09.97; 2. Alison Rendell, Kajaks Track & Field, 21:19.28; 3. Karen Dickson, Seattle Pacific, 21:20.05; 4. Jeannine Hagedorn, San Francisco, 21:21.24; 5. Angela Wishaar, Washington, 21:27.73; 14. Neoma Palmer, Oregon State, 21:43.02; 16. Ashley Younce, Oregon State, 21:47.68; 51. Kaitlin Poggi, Oregon State, 22:56.09; 63. Lauren Denfeld, Oregon State, 23:13.56; 83. Noelle Harer, Oregon State, 23:53.70; 88. Michelle Wilson, Oregon State, 24:01.82; 94. Jean-Marie Peterson, Oregon State, 24:17.33; 101. Lisa Roberton, Oregon State, 24:40.00; 105. Heather Wales, Oregon State, 25:02.10; 106. Jaime Fuller, Oregon State, 25:08.69; 111. Tara Stirewalt, Oregon State, 25:53.30; 115. Allie Schroeder, Oregon State, 26:33.10.
