WXC Heads into ASICS Embry-Riddle Classic
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - A step up to the 6K distance at the Delaware Invitational two weeks ago did little to slow the team-leading pace of freshman Christiana Rutkowski (Middletown, N.J.) who finished atop the Seton Hall women's cross country team rankings for the third consecutive race but on Saturday, the Pirates will tackle their second 5K course of the season at the ASICS Embry-Riddle Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Another championship could be in the cards as last time The Hall competed at 5,000-meters, the women's team out-paced a field that included BIG EAST rival St. John's at a Fall Festival meet that the Red Storm co-hosted with Hofstra. The victory was the first for the Pirates as a team since the program transitioned exclusively to cross country.
Rutkowski has been a revelation for head coach John Moon at the top of the lineup but at Delaware it was another newcomer who stepped up to fill a void created by the absence of senior leader Mary Migton (Ledgewood, N.J.).
After finishing sixth on the squad in each of her first two collegiate outings, freshman Emily Johnson (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) rose to the occasion and collected a personal-best second-place team finish to give The Hall a boost at Delaware.
The rest of the scoring group held steady however as junior Amanda Quaglia (Reading, Pa.), sophomore Desyre Blackburn (Aloha, Ore.) and freshman Bailey Seach (Winston Salem, N.C.) each collected their third scoring times of the campaign.
The consistency near the front has been supported by a strong second group in which freshman Emily Curran (Wakefield, Mass.), junior Amanda Catherall (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and classmate Bri Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) have routinely occupied the seventh through ninth slots, finishing within 90 seconds of the scoring contingent each time out.
While Catherall will be missing from the lineup on Saturday, Miller is coming off a season-best sixth-place finish for The Hall and as someone who contributed four scoring efforts in 2013, could help continue to push the pace as the championship season approaches.
The Seton Hall women will feature 17 competitors on Saturday and will be up against a Division I field that includes three other programs in Bethune Cookman, Florida International and Stetson.
All three of the aforementioned squads are based in Florida and accustomed to running in a hot, arid climate but the number of quality runners available for The Hall could guide them back to the top of the leaderboard at day's end.
The 7:50 a.m. start time of the women's collegiate 5K should serve to alleviate the impact of the heat. Updates and recaps will be available through SHUPirates.com and @SHUPiratesXC on Twitter.
