WXC to Tackle 6K Course at Leopard Invite
10/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's cross country squad hits the course again this weekend at the Leopard Invitational hosted by Lafayette, a 6K meet that serves as a respite between four championship races down the stretch for the Pirates.
Freshman Christiana Rutkowski (Middletown, N.J.) continued her superlative debut campaign as The Hall opened the championship season with a sixth-place showing at The Mets. Rutkowski delivered a personal-best 5K time of 18:48.5 to rank sixth out of 109 entrants and second among all freshmen - leading the Pirates for the fifth time this fall.
As Seton Hall aims for its fifth top-three team finish of the year, the women's team will bring back four returning scorers from last season's trip to the Leopard Invite. Senior Mary Migton (Ledgewood, N.J.) ranked second on the squad at Lafayette in 2013 and after placing 12th at the Metropolitan Championships, she has now finished among the top-12 overall in each of her four appearances to this point in 2014.
Sophomore Desyre Blackburn (Aloha, Ore.) continues to be a steady contributor for The Hall and is coming off the 12th third-place team finish in her 14 career appearances, a number that also includes the Pirates' most recent trip to Lafayette.
The second-fastest 6K mark Seton Hall has posted this fall belongs to freshman Emily Johnson (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) however as the newcomer followed Rutkowski to the line at the Delaware Invitational. Consistently among the squad's top-six in her first collegiate season, Johnson is looking to build on the second scoring effort of her career after placing fourth for The Hall at Van Cortlandt Park last weekend.
Junior Amanda Quaglia (Reading, Pa.) posted the team's third-fastest mark at the Delaware Invitational and joins Rutkowski and Blackburn as the only Pirates to score in every meet this season. Quaglia is not among the returning scorers as the two remaining team members that contributed to the group score at Lafayette in 2013 are classmates Bri Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) and Samantha Young (Upper Black Eddy, Pa.).
Young registered a season-best eighth-place team finish a week ago while Miller has recorded a top-nine time on the squad each time she has competed this fall.
Freshman Bailey Seach (Winston Salem, N.C.) and sophomore Holli Rolle (Nassau, Bahamas) add further depth as Seach has scored in four of her first five collegiate outings while Rolle notched a career-best seventh-place team finish at The Mets.
Patriot League member American stands as the defending team champion while SHU will be looking to improve on last year's 12th-place effort.
Start time on Saturday morning is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. from Easton, Pa. For updates, follow @SHUPiratesXC on Twitter and check back on SHUPirates.com.
