University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
LSU Invitational
Golden Eagle Cross Country Team Wins LSU Cross Country Invitational
9/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field/Cross Country
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Southern Miss cross country team placed all five runners in the top 10 in winning the team title at the LSU Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning.
"We were very happy with the way the women competed today," Coach Aaron Kindt said. "They prepared themselves well and ready to run hard from the start. We had improvement from runners one through seven this week which was exciting to see."
Southern Miss finished with 18 points with LSU at second with 37 points followed by Southeastern Louisiana with 93, Xavier-Louisiana 131, Alcorn State 154, Nicholls 176 and Loyola-New Orleans 184.
Rebecca Ulrich ran a time of 17:44.99 in covering the 5K course and taking the individual title as well. Daphney Stanford placed second with a time of 17:57.10. Rounding out the top 10 finishes for the Golden Eagles included Kristin Zarrella with a time of 18:44.99 for fourth-place, Dana Dillistone with a time of 18:47.00 fifth-place and Victoria Hoppe with a time of 18:47.43 sixth-place.
Avery Rosenbalm placed 12th with a time of 19:33.70 and Madeleine Bell was 20th overall with a time of 20:15.93.
"We still have plenty of work ahead of us but we will use this performance as momentum moving into October," said Kindt.
Southern Miss went out with a controlled effort. Ulrich and Stanford led the way for the Golden Eagle pack. The Eagle team slowly worked their way up to the front after the initial start. After two mile marker the Southern Miss began to separate itself from the field with Ulrich in complete control of the race and Stanford not too far behind. The duo finished 1-2 with the trio of Zarrella, Dillistone and Hoppe coming in shortly after and sealing the victory.
"Coach Kindt did a great job of preparing the ladies for this competition, and they executed the plan almost flawlessly," Head Track & Field Coach Jon Stuart said. "We should go into the later part of the season with a great deal of confidence."
Southern Miss will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Chili Pepper XC Classic, Oct. 3.
