Oct. 4, 2013

Notre Dame Invitational Photo Gallery

Complete Results | Meet Program

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (SMU) - The SMU cross country team placed eighth out of 24 schools at the Notre Dame Invitational. The Mustangs defeated USTFCCCA No. 4 ranked Duke and regional foe Baylor as each team finished in 10th and 14th, respectively. Sophomore Melanie Stemper paced SMU as she finished 42nd (17:51.8) overall out of 198 total runners in the 5k race.

In addition to Duke, the Mustangs competed against six other USTFCCCA ranked schools.

"We ran very well as a pack," head coach Cathy Casey said. "Our one through five spread was only 16 seconds, which was great."

In addition to Stemper, sophomore Karoline Skatteboe, who competed in her first race since the Mustangs opened the season at the Baylor Invitational, finished 51st with a time of 17:57.7. Following right behind her was freshman Tova Magnusson as she placed 55th and crossed the finish line just 1.9 seconds later with a time of 17:59.6.

A total of 3.3 seconds separated sophomores Shanoah Souza (18:06.3), Holly Archer (18:07.4) and freshman Agnes Sjöström (18:09.4) as they finished in 62nd, 64th and 67th place, respectively. Senior Caitlin Keen placed 87th in 18:22.9.

Also competing for the Mustangs were freshmen Julie Vanderhout (19:17.0) and Anna Nelson (19:34.1).

"Even though we ran really well today, I still feel we can do better," Casey said. "We look forward to testing ourselves at the 6K Pre-National meet in two weeks."

SMU is remains idle until the aforementioned Indiana State University Pre-National Meet in Terre Haute, Ind. on Saturday, October 19 at 10:00 a.m.