Green paces women at Lewiston cross country meet

October 30, 2009

LEWISTON, Idaho - Senior runner Jamie Green placed 10th overall and the Carroll College women's cross country team finished third out of six teams at the Lewis-Clark State College Invitational in Hells Gate State Park on Saturday.

"If this had been the conference championships Jamie would have qualified for nationals," Carroll head coach Bill Ballinger said. "There is about four women that are capable of qualifying (at the Frontier Conference Championships) and are fighting for position. She's one of them. Last year she wasn't even close to nationals, so it's exciting to see her in that position."

Green finished the course in 19:05.5, setting a personal record for a second race in the row.

The Saints finished ahead of conference rival Great Falls for the first time this season, thanks in large part to personal record efforts from freshmen Shanna Burk and Ariel Murtagh. Burk took 22 nd overall, while Murtagh was 29th out of 67 runners.

"Ariel walked on for us out of Billings West and ran a sub-25 (minute) time on a very challenging course," Ballinger said. "Overall, it was probably the best race I've seen ran by our women's team in three years."

The Saints men's team finished fifth out of six schools, led by Taylor Gregory's 18th-place showing.

Carroll now has a week off before the Frontier Championships in Salt Lake City on Nov. 6.

"Cross country is unique in that your season comes down to one race," Ballinger said of the championships. "The hard work is done, the horses are in the barn, and now it's a matter of getting sharpened up."