HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 18, 2010 - The James Madison women's cross country team moved up one spot to seventh in Southeast region of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, released Monday.
This is the second time this season the Dukes have held the seventh position after being eighth for the previous four weeks.
JMU placed 20th in the White Race at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Dukes finished the race with a team total time of 108 minutes, 47.9 seconds, just under five minutes behind the team champions, Georgetown.
Senior Alison Parris (Saint Leonard, Md./Patuxent) finished the race in seventh place among 247 runners, improving 23 spots from the 2009 race. She completed the six-kilometer course in 20:26.1, finishing 18 seconds back of Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen, who won the event in 20:08.1.
Sophomore Stacey Nobles (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) was 79th, clocking a time of 21:40.4, and sophomore Katie Gorman (Lafayette Hill, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) crossed the line in 21:56.5, good for 112th place.
Sophomore Katie Harman (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) finished in 130th place after posting a time of 22:04.5, and junior Jess Zozos (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler) rounded out JMU's team finish with a mark of 22:40.4 and 193rd place.
Colonial Athletic Association foe William and Mary moved up three spots to 11th in the Southeast, while Towson stayed put at No. 12 in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Richmond made the biggest jump in the Southeast region this week, up four spots to No. 5. The Spiders finished in 12th position as a team in the Blue Race at the Pre-National Invitational.
The Atlantic Coast Conference owns the top four spots in the Southeast and seven of the top nine.
JMU returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 30 for the CAA Championship at UNC Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. The women's race is slated for a 10 a.m. start.
