WXC Looks to Challenge at Delaware Invite
9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Coming off a milestone victory at the St. John's/Hofstra Fall Festival last weekend, the Seton Hall women's cross country squad will head from South Orange to Newark, Del. to take part in Saturday's 6K Delaware Invitational.
The first-place team finish was a first for the Pirates' in the program's short history of offering exclusively cross country and came on the strength of a compact lead group consisting of the same five individuals that scored for The Hall in the opener at Monmouth.
Freshman Christiana Rutkowski (Middletown, N.J.) again paced the squad, placing fourth among all Division I competitors with a time of 19:35.4. Rutkowski was at the front of a group of six Seton Hall runners that finished in succession inside the top-10 as the Pirates continued to impress with the prowess present throughout the lineup.
Following Rutkowski to the line for the second-straight week was senior Mary Migton (Ledgewood, N.J.) who completed the course less than six seconds later. The Hall will be without Migton on Saturday however which will bring the improved depth further into focus.
Sophomore Desyre Blackburn (Aloha, Ore.) turned in a personal record 5K time of 19:55.5 to rank third on the team, finishing just ahead of freshman Bailey Seach (Winston Salem, N.C.) and junior Amanda Quaglia (Reading, Pa.).
Blackburn and Quaglia ranked third and fourth for the Pirates during last year's trip to Delaware and will be the only returning scorers from that meet who will compete on Saturday.
Given Migton's absence, legendary head coach John Moon will look to junior Amanda Catherall (Farmingdale, N.Y.), and a pair of freshmen in Emily Curran (Wakefield, Mass.) and Emily Johnson (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) to keep the gaps close as the team aims to better a fourth-place finish in 2013.
The average difference in time between the top performer and the fifth finisher on the women's side has been just over 45 seconds through the first two races and the trio of Catherall, Curran and Johnson has been close behind.
Johnson has ranked sixth on the team in each of her first two collegiate outings; including a ninth-place overall effort last week in Oakdale. Catherall and Curran have also been towards the front of the Pirates' middle group, alternating a pair of seventh and eighth-place team finishes.
Junior Bri Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) has also finished ninth on the team in both of the first two competitions of the fall and is coming off a top-20 effort of her own as well.
The Delaware Invitational will be the squad's first taste of the championship 6K distance, an increase that coach Moon says is a conscious part of the approach to the early portion of the season.
"We want to perform well but the first two races are at shorter distances and really serve as a build up to the rest of our schedule," said Moon. "With the way we have been training though, I'm confident that the distance will not be an issue."
The Pirates will take the course at White Clay Creek State Park on Saturday morning. The women's 6K event will begin at 10:00 a.m.
