Racing against some of their toughest competition all year, the women’s cross country team finished an impressive seventh out of 32 teams this past weekend at Oberlin’s Inter-Regional Rumble. All six teams who finished ahead of the Spartans are ranked nationally, while CWRU sits unranked for now.

Finishing the 6k course first for the Spartans was fourth-year Maddie Lindemann. Lindemann finished 16th out of 283 runners, with a time of 22:03.2. Coming in 39th overall was Jana Fisher, running a 22:40.5. Four places behind Fisher was third-year Kiera Olson, with a 22:46.6. Next to finish was the first-year, second-year duo of Melissa Phung and Susanna Henry. Henry ran a 23:02.6 and Phung a 23:03.0. First-year Danielle Sarno raced across the line in 23:12.7 to finish 82nd, followed by third-years Grace Kemerer and Olivia Battistoni who each ran personal bests, 23:20.3 and 23:40.0, respectively. Fourth-year captain Vanessa Pasadyn ran a 24:02.3 to close out the varsity squad.

The third-years weren’t the only ones to record a personal best this weekend. Lindemann, Olson, Phung, Henry, Sarno, Kemerer and Battistoni all ran their fastest times ever during the varsity race. Many others Spartans also ran their personal records in the open race.

Despite the spectacular performance at Oberlin, the women’s team dropped in the regional rankings. They need to race their best at the UAAs and Regionals in order to be in contention for an at-large bid to the national meet.

The Spartans have a week off from competition before the UAA race in Pittsburgh.