CHARLESTON, Ill. -- For the second time in as many meets this season, senior Emily Emerson enjoyed a top-three finish to lead North Dakota's women's cross country team.
Emerson, a native of Lino Lakes, Minn., was the runner-up this afternoon at the Eastern Illinois Walt Crawford Open, running the 5K race in 18:04.02.
Last Saturday, Emerson opened the 2011 season with a third-place showing at the UND Ron Pynn Invitaitonal.
Alyssa Allison (unattached) won today's race with a time of 17:59.42.
"Emily was actually back by about 15 seconds with a mile left and if she had a little longer to go, she may have caught (Allison) and ended up winning," said UND Head Coach Dick Clay.
Emerson was joined in the top 20 today by teammate Erin Wysocki. The freshman from Grand Forks, N.D., placed 17th after clocking a time of 18:42.37.
"A lot of our runners ran here last year and ran about 30 seconds faster this year on the same course," said Clay. "Our true freshmen, particularly Erin and Jessica (Lindsay), also ran very well."
UND defeated Evansville, but fell to Southern Illinois and Eastern Illinois.
UND will return to action next Saturday at the University of Nebraska's Woody Greeno Invitational in Lincoln.
Dual Results
UND (26) def. Evansville (32)
SIU (20) def. UND (42)
EIU (20) def. UND (41)
UND Participants
2. Emily Emerson, 18:04.02
17. Erin Wysocki, 18:42.37
22. Jessica Lindsay, 18:52.27
30. Kahla Erickson, 19:18.35
33. Katherine Enabnit, 19:22.76
34. Jessica Lynch, 19:23.96
36. Meghan Enabnit, 19:33.37
37. Anna Lipetzky, 19:36.38
40. Victoria Lutz, 19:45.17
42. Anna Gessell, 19:46.10
~Go Sioux~
