Women’s Cross Country races for the win

October 12, 2017
The Wheaton Women’s Cross Country team scored first place at the Lucian Rosa Invitational, hosted by UW-Parkside at Dannehl National Cross Country Course last weekend.
The Division III, nationally ranked team pushed past the competition by scoring 32 points. Close on their tail, Marquette finished with 33 points and Illinois Cross Country Club came in third with 133 points.
The Women’s Cross Country team endured the hot weather and hilly course to post some impressive times. Thunder freshman Hannah Roeske took second overall, and was the top collegiate runner. She completed the 6K course with a time of 22:20.7. Senior Rebecca Marcotte finished third overall and as the second collegiate athlete with a time of 22:55.9. Senior Ellie Hawthorne finished eighth overall, securing seventh place among collegiate runners with a time of 23:09.0. She was closely followed by sophomore Aryn Embretson, who posted a time of 23:09.4 to finish ninth overall and eighth in the collegiate standings.
The women’s team enjoyed success in spite of the unfavorable weather and course. Hawthorne told us, “Parkside is a challenging course with more hills and terrain, but it keeps it fun and interesting! I am happy with how I performed individually and how the team did as a whole. Personally, it felt harder than a few weeks ago but I did my best to not settle throughout the course of the race, especially as it got more difficult towards the end. I ended up running a PR which was encouraging, even though it didn’t feel the best.” Hawthorne also added that the entire team ran tough and put forth a great effort. She felt the team attacked the hills well and ran strong.
Coach Wally also felt that the women’s team competed well. “For the most part we ran very intelligent races.” He said the women handled the hills very well, not being too scared of them but at the same time not being to aggressive.  
The team anticipates racing on a flatter course in more temperate weather and looks forward to more success in the coming weeks. “This coming weekend is pre-nationals which will be a good opportunity to run against some of our best competition. Our goal is to keep running strong and really just race this one. This point in the season is when it becomes fun because not so much relies on our individual times as it does on overall place which switches our attention to the competition. It also starts to feel more team oriented because we are all working together to place and beat other teams,!” Hawthorne explained.  
The Thunder Women’s Cross Country return to action next Saturday at Principia College’s Cowbell Classic in Elsah, Ill.