Oct. 22, 2010

Complete Results

Photo Gallery

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Running in the final meet of the fall season, the Southern Illinois University women's cross country team finished in third place out of five teams at the SIUE Cross Country Open Friday night.

Junior Aftan Noon turned in her fastest performance as a Cougar on a 6,000-meter course by finishing in a time of 22:52, good enough for fourth place out of 38 total runners. Her time also placed her seventh on the all-time best at SIUE in a 6k.

"Aftan looked amazing," said Head Coach Eileen McAllister. "It was great to see her rebound from a couple of mediocre races the past few weeks and regain her confidence."

Following Noon was freshman Emily Conlon, who finished in 14th place with a time of 24:12.

Fellow freshman Claire Brown was on the heels of Conlon and finished the 6k in 24:27 for a solid, 17th-place performance.

Renee Goodenough (26th) and Hannah Lee (30th), another pair of freshmen for the Cougars, completed the challenging home course in times of 25:04 and 25:26, respectively.

Rounding out the performers for SIUE was freshman Megan Petty, who came in 34th place in a time of 26:12.

"The freshmen women ran well for their second ever 6k, especially on this course," added McAllister. "They have all worked very hard this season and have a lot to show for it."

As a team, the Cougars finished the event in third place with 87 points while Pittsburgh State University claimed the team title with 25 points.

"We still have some ups and downs to work out, but not nearly as many as I expected to have on a team with one returner and the rest freshmen," said McAllister. "As long as they continue to show that hunger for competition and improvement every week in training, they will see huge gains."

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