Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
National Catholic Invite
Xavier Teams Net Top Five Finishes At National Catholic Championships
09.17.11 | Cross Country
Sept. 17, 2011
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Xavier cross country teams navigated a field of more than 30 teams to finish fourth in the women's 5-kilometer race and fifth in the men's 8-kilomeneter race at the 32nd Annual Catholic Championships held at the Notre Dame Cross Country Course on Friday evening.
Sophomore Clare Fischer was the top finisher for the women and senior Keith Albrektson led the men in the third meet of the year for the Musketeers, who have two weeks off before the All-Ohio Intercollegiate Championship on Sept. 30 in Cedarville, Ohio.
Fischer earned her first top Xavier finish by placing 17th and setting a new personal-best time of 18:14, besting the old mark by 39 seconds. One spot back was senior Caylin Howell who crossed with the same finishing time.
Sophomore Anna Ahlrichs set a personal-best time for the second consecutive week with her 18:32 finish. She finished 30th overall two spots ahead of junior Rachel Clark's 18:34, which she recorded in her first race of the season. Sophomore Abby Fischer posted a season-best time of 18:42 to place 39th and round of the women's scoring at 128.
Junior Kaitlin Price (18:52) placed 51st overall, freshman Audrey Ramos (19:04) took 67th, and redshirt freshman Chelsea Hoffmaster (19:26) finished 95th.
Albrektson led a trio of Musketeer finishers in the Top 20 in the first 8-kilometer race of the year for the men. The senior paced the men with his 11th-place time of 25:04, besting his 2010 time by 26 seconds. Sophomore Tom Ohlman and redshirt junior Ben Foley occupied the 15th and 16th places, respectively, with times of 25:09.
Junior Matt Coniglio earned the 55th spot with a 25:54 mark and freshman Travis Hawes (26:15) placed 80th in his first collegiate 8-kilometer race to finalize the men's scoring at 176. Classmates Ben Nathan (26:39) and Corey Zielinski (26:47) placed 104th and 117th, respectively.
A junior varsity race was held prior to the start of the women's run. Sophomore Jessica Albers and seniors Micayla McGinn, Samantha Milroy, and Courtney Heys ran for the women. Sophomre Keith Schenkel and freshman Matt Orlando competed for the men.
Notre Dame - running on its home course - won both races. The men scored 28 points to lead Marquette (88), Dayton (118), Bellarmine (124) and Xavier in the standings. A trio of Atlantic 10 schools finished behind the Irish women who scored 22 points. Dayton placed second with 61 points, Saint Louis scored 117 points, and Xavier capturing fourth, two spots up from last year.
Notre Dame's Jessica Rydberg was the women's individual champion with a time of 17:16 and DePaul's Matthew Graham was the men's individual champion with a time of 24:15.
Players Mentioned
