HARRISONBURG, Va. - Respective 13th-place and 16th-place finishes by seniors Katie Gorman (Lafayette Hill, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) and Katie Harman (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) led James Madison cross country to a sixth-place team finish at the 2012 Chili Pepper Cross Country Festival, Oct. 13. Forty-three squads comprised of 341 runners descended on Fayetteville, Ark., for the annual 6,000-meter event on Saturday.
Gorman crossed the finish line in 21:22.7 while Harman finished in an even 21:40. Fellow senior Annie Reiner (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) placed 54th after running the course in 22:27.9. Sophomore Kristen Landry (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain Lakes) posted a time of 22:42.5, coming in at the 71st spot.
A pack of Dukes ended the team-scoring portion of the race within a second of each other. Freshman Jenna Flickinger (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and sophomores Kelsey Langton (Hamilton Square, N.J./Notre Dame H.S.) and Rachel Hagen (Sterling, Va./Potomac Falls) took the 74-76 slots came in at 22:43.8, 22:43.9 and 22:44.4 respectively.
Rounding out the day for JMU were freshman Kathleen Stewart (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) in 23:59.9 (163rd) and sophomore Tiel Westbrook (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) in 24:43.2 (210th).
Oklahoma's Jess Engel won the race with a time of 20:42.1. Monika Juodeskaite of Oklahoma State notched second place with a time of 20:54.3 and Jillian Prentice of Richmond followed in third at 20:58.6. LSU's Laura Carleton was hot on her heels at 20:59.9, and Arkansas's Semehar Tesfaye rounded out the top five individual times at 20:59.9.
Madison notched 206 team points on Saturday, placing them sixth on the day out of 43 teams competing. Host Arkansas won the day with 58 points, followed by Oklahoma State (103 points) and SMU (155 points). Finishing out the top-five were LSU in fourth at 174 points and LMU in fifth at 181 points.
JMU will next run at the Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 27. The Dukes defend their CAA title in Williamsburg, Va., at 11 a.m.
JMU Finishes (341 runners)
13. Katie Gorman 21:22.7
16. Katie Harman 21:40.0
54. Annie Reiner 22:27.9
71. Kristen Landry 22:42.5
74. Jenna Flickinger 22:43.8
75. Kelsey Langton 22:43.9
76. Rachel Hagen 22:44.4
163. Kathleen Stewart 23:59.9
210. Tiel Westbrook 24:43.2
Team Finishes (Top 10 of 43)
1. Arkansas 58 points
2. Oklahoma State 103 points
3. SMU 155 points
4. LSU 174 points
5. LMU 181 points
6. James Madison 206 points
7. Richmond 224 points
8. UTSA 241 points
9. TCU 255 points
10. Nevada 263 points
