Juniors Rebecca Hare (left) and Caitlin Fermoyle (right) led the current Gusties at the Gustie Invite on Saturday morning.
St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s cross country team had a strong showing at its annual Gustie Invitational/Alumni Meet held Saturday morning in the Linnaeus Arboretum. The 2013 Gustavus varsity won the three-team meet with 22 points, while the Gustavus Alumni placed second with 46 points, and Bethany Lutheran College took third with 66 points.
“We looked strong and that was great to see,” said Head Coach Dale Bahr. “I know we’ve got some work to do and that’s fine for where we are at in our season. We can’t expect them to be in mid-season form at this point so with that in mind, the women looked good and ran a great race.”
Winning the Gustie Invitational was Nicole Porath, a 2005 Gustavus graduate and four-year member of its cross country team. Porath cruised to a first place finish with a time of 18:54.1.
Finishing next in line was a quartet of current Gustie runners. Junior Caitlin Fermoyle (Mendota Heights, Minn.) led the group in second place overall in 19:39.0. Behind Fermoyle was Rebecca Hare (Jr., Albany, Minn.) in third with a time of 19:54.6, Marit Sonnesyn (So., Plymouth, Minn.) in fourth with a time of 20:08.6, and Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) in fifth with a time of 20:40.1.
As in the past, the Gustie Invitational/Alumni Meet signifies the end of training camp and the start of new school year. Coach Bahr was pleased with the effort in camp and looks forward to a new season. “Camp went very well – we had high expectations coming into the year and they came in further ahead than what I expected. The atmosphere and attitude of this team has been great and they understand that it’s about the team more than it’s about the individual. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
The Gustavus cross country teams will be in action next Saturday, Sept. 7 when they travel to Collegeville, Minn. to take part in the Saint John’s/Saint Ben’s Invitational set to begin at 10:30 a.m.