University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Carnegie Mellon Invitational
Pitt Women Race To Second At CMU
10/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
PITTSBURGH - Behind three top-10 finishes, the Pitt women's cross country team tied for second at the Carnegie Mellon University Invitational at Schenley Park on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Pitt, which was resting its top runners, scored a team total of 60 points, tying it with Seton Hill for second place. Both teams were a mere one point behind team champion SUNY Cortland, who finished with 59 points. What ultimately got the best of Pitt was Cortland's Kerri Culhane taking 18th place, three spots and 3.9 seconds ahead of the Panthers' junior Deanna Felicissimo, who placed 21st.
The second place finish for Pitt is its best showing in the event since at least 2007, which began a string of eight straight years running in the race. Last year the Panthers were fifth.
Senior Samantha Owens was the top Panthers runner on the day, finishing fourth in a time of 18:52.9, just 0.8 seconds away from the personal record time she set at Notre Dame last week.
Sophomore Kristyna Finikiotis and freshman Courtney Group rounded out the top-10 with ninth and 10th place performances, respectively. Finikiotis posted a time of 19:13.8 while Group ran the race in a personal best time of 19:15.0.
Pitt received its remaining points from juniors Cayla Del Piano and Felicissimo. Del Piano was took 16th in a time of 19:29.3. Felicissimo's time of 19:35.8 was her fastest on a 5K course in her collegiate career.
Seton Hill produced the individual winner, Meagan Carter. Her time of 18:26.2 was just over six seconds in front of the second place finisher. A total of 193 runners and 17 teams participated in the event.
With two full weeks of rest, Pitt's top performers will be ready to preview the Nationals course when they head to Terre Haute, Ind. for the ISU Pre-Nationals race on Saturday, Oct. 18.
