Friday, September 15, 2006

The Valpo women's cross country team, fresh off a win at the Crusader Invitational, continued their brilliant opening to the season with a second place finish at the 26-team Indiana Intercollegiates Friday in Terre Haute, Ind.

Senior Danielle Nunnelly (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) recaptured her form of two seasons ago and covered the 5K course in 17:48.4, a personal best and the fastest 5K ever run by someone other than All-American Collette Liss in school history. Nunnelly's time was good enough for second in the race of over 200 runners, 11 seconds behind two-time All-American Jessica Gall of Indiana.

Not to be outdone, sophomore Laura Rolf (Rochester, Mich./Lutheran Northwest) finished right behind her teammate in third, crossing the tape in 17:53.3, one second shy of a personal best. Rolf, who won the 4K Crusader Invitational last week and earned Mid-Con Athlete of the Week honors, finished four seconds ahead of fourth and a clear 18 seconds in front of the fifth place finisher.

Ashley Billstrom (Hales Corners, Wis./Whitnall) and Rachael Button (Farmington Hills, Mich./Farmington) were the next two Valpo finishers, crossing in 20th and 22nd respectively. Billstrom's time of 18:45.5 was the quickest 5K of the senior's career.

Renae Swift (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso), running the first 5K of her career after missing two years with injuries, was the final Crusader to score in 43rd place with a time of 19:35.2.

The Brown and Gold had just 89 points for the competition, behind only race champion Indiana. Valpo finished ahead of 24 in-state rivals, including Purdue, Indiana State, Ball State, IPFW, IUPUI, Evansville and Butler.

The Crusaders' next race will come in two weeks when they run another 5K at the Notre Dame Invitational, scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m.

race results