University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Cross Country Sets Sights On Albany Invitational
October 15, 2009 | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 15, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass cross country team will head to Albany, N.Y. this weekend to compete in the 43rd annual Albany Invitational. The Minutewomen are coming off of an excellent performance at the New England Championships and are looking to build upon this success.
Led by freshman Courtney Baldwin, the squad grabbed 14th place out of 49 teams at last weekend's New England Championships. Baldwin posted a time of 18:22 in the 5k, en route to a 16th place finish overall. Her debut performance garnered the respect of the Atlantic 10 when she was named A-10 Performer of the Week and A-10 Rookie of the Week. Baldwin's time of 18:22 became the top time on the season for the Minutewomen.
In addition to Baldwin's standout performance, all of the top five finishers for the Minutewomen had great performances. Each runner impressively placed inside the top 100 harriers overall. In the field of 322 runners, Shiyi Zan placed 80th (19:14), Lauren Stocker placed 83rd (19:16), Claire Pettit placed 89th (19:19), and Gina Perno placed 94th (19:22).
At last year's Albany Invitational, UMass finished in seventh place out of twenty-four teams. The Minutewomen were lead by Shiyi Zan, who crossed at 18:05 and came in ninth place overall out of 161 runners. Karen Roa came in second for the Minutewomen, finishing 30th overall with a time of 18:46.
This year's race will be held in Albany N.Y. this Saturday, Oct. 17 at 10:35 a.m.