Beavers take 5th at Sundodger meet
September 19, 2015 | Women's Cross Country
Seattle, Wash. – The Oregon State cross country team placed fifth in a nine-team field on Saturday at the Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.
The Beavers scored 141 points and trailed No. 14 Washington (17); Washington State (88); Nevada (93) and Portland State (130). They defeated Seattle (156); Fresno State (163); Tulane (171) and Hawaii (195).
Junior Holly Cavalluzzo led the Beavers for the second time in two meets this season, as she placed 10th in 21:17 over 6,000 meters. Sophomore Kristiane Width (photo) was 13th in 21:32, and moved into sole possession of 16th place on OSU's career 6,000-meter list by bettering her PR by two seconds. She had been tied with Melanie Cleland.
“They ran extremely well,” OSU coach Kelly Sullivan said of the duo, who finished 1-2 at the Sept. 1 Westmoreland Quintet in Portland in their first race this fall. “I was very, very pleased with how they ran.”
OSU's other scorers were junior Samantha Lewis (36, 22:34); junior Maureen Tremblay (37, 22:34), and junior Monica Anderson (45, 22:49).
“They all ran a minute faster than their previous best for 6,000 meters,” Sullivan said.
Freshman Kaely Gordon placed 50th (23:15). Rounding out OSU's lineup were Macaulay Wilson (52, 23:22); freshman Rachel Johnson (23:51) and sophomore Kara Kopecek (24:07).
It was the first race of the season for Lewis, Anderson, Wilson and Kopecek, who missed the Westmoreland Quintet in Portland, and the initial 6,000-meter race for Gordon, Johnson and Wilson.
OSU's No. 3 and No. 4 runners, juniors Morgan Anderson and Kira Kelly, did not run. Anderson could have raced but was held out in a race-time decision as a precautionary measure; Kelly was under the weather this week.
“I was very pleased with how the runners we did enter competed today,” Sullivan said. “I'm looking forward to coming back up here in two weeks,” for the Oct. 2 Washington Invitational at Jefferson Park in Seattle.
“We will be a little more polished up,” he added. “We continue to be a work in progress.”
For more information on the Oregon State cross country team, follow the team by Facebook at Facebook.com/OSUTrackCrossCountry or on Twitter at twitter.com/@beavers_track.
