The Ball State women's cross country team didn't end the seasonlike they wanted to, but it didn't end all that bad either. Afterwinning the Mid-American Conference meet, they placed eighth with298 points on Saturday in the Great Lakes regional.
"An average day just wasn't going to get it," head coach SueParks said about the performance. "We needed to be up higher,that's the bottom line."
Notre Dame, the #4 team in the nation, won the race with 43points and Notre Dame's Molly Huddle won the individual race with atime of 20:14.
Junior Jill Scully led Ball State with her 31st place finish andtime of 21:49. Also finishing within the top 50 and crossing thefinish line together were senior Crystal Meeks and junior SarahHuddleston. Meeks earned 46th with her time of 22:07 and Huddlestonearned 47th with her time of 22:08.
"Throughout the race I didn't feel as good as I had felt at MACso it was more difficult for me today," Scully said about herperformance.
Nicole Hartford and Aubrey Gaffer rounded out the top fiverunners for the Cardinals. Hartford finished 76th with a time of22:39 and Gaffer finished 98th with a time of 23:03.
Other runners for the Cardinals were freshman Rose Lehe whoplaced 113th with a time of 23:19 and Amanda Ponsot who placed118th with a time of 23:23.
"I think I definitely could have run better," Meeks said. "I wasreally nervous. I was worried it was going to be my last race and Ithink that got to my head a little bit."
Hartford was one of the individuals on the team that Parksthought finished about where she needed to.
"I think MAC and this race today were one of my better races ofthe year," Hartford said.
The team may not be going on to nationals, but Parks said, "Anytime you can get in the Top 10 in this region, it's reallygood."
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