Alabama Takes 17th at Great American Cross Country Festival
10/3/2004 12:00:00 AM
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In its first long race of the year, the Alabama's women took 17th at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Raleigh, N.C. Friday.
In addition to being the Tide's first 5-kilometer race of the season, it was only the second competition to this point in the season. Hurricane Ivan pre-empted the Crimson Classic two weeks ago, creating a four week lull between competitions for the Tide.
Sophomore Elizabeth Wancowicz was the Tide's top finisher, taking 71st place with a time of 19:03.21 followed by classmates Megan Carnes, 81st, and Julia Hicks, 88th. Carnes ran a 19:11.80 while Hicks finished at 19:19.98.
"We had some mixed results out there today, Elizabeth, Megan and Julia ran well, finishing within about 10 seconds of each other," cross country coach Steve Keith said. "But Tara (Enebak) continues to have trouble with her hamstring and finished sixth for us. Blair Davis ran well despite being out with a virus the last few weeks."
"Over all it was tough for the ladies to jump right back into racing after being out of competition for four weeks, especially with this field, where there probably five of the nation's top 15 out there on the course," Keith said. "We'll be much better the next time we race."
Alabama returns to competition Mon. Oct. 11 at the Auburn Invitational.
