DELAWARE, Ohio – In the first scored event of the season, the Baldwin Wallace University women's cross country team placed eighth at the Ohio Wesleyan University Invitational.
The women finished eighth out of 16 teams with 260 points.
Six of the top 10 regional teams, including three nationally-ranked teams, toed the starting line for the women's 6k event, giving the Yellow Jackets a chance to run against top programs early in the season and see how well they compete.
Sophomore Bella Pendola (Warsaw/River View) was once again the Yellow Jackets' top finisher, running a time of 23:28.4 for 28th place out of 237 runners.
Four freshmen in Hastings Marek (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial), Rebecca Penrose (Springfield/Shawnee), Lizzy Gilreath (Mentor) and Megan Vaughn (Amherst/Firelands) all finished within 18 seconds of each other to round out the Yellow Jackets top five finishes. All competing in their first collegiate 6k event, Marek placed 61st with a time of 24:20.9, Penrose finished in 24:34.8 for 72nd place, Gilreath had a time of 24:34.9 to finish 73rd and Vaughn ran 24:37.1 to finish 75th.
Head Coach Joe Eby noted that, traditionally, his team tends to race better at the end of the season. In previous years at the OWU Invitational, the women have finished fourth out of four teams, sixth out of eight teams and seventh out of 11 teams.
BW will have a week off to continue to train and improve on times before traveling to Winchester, Virginia, to compete in the Hornet Harrier Invitational hosted by Shenandoah University at the Kernstown Battlefield on Saturday, September 23.
