RESULTS
BOONE, N.C. – Running in wet conditions, the Appalachian State women's cross country team finished second to ACC program Florida State in the season-opening Covered Bridge Open on Friday.
Competing on the original 5,000-meter layout for the State Farm fields/Kennedy trails course, the host Mountaineers totaled 68 points, 43 more than the first-place Seminoles, in the 12-team field.
"It was a really positive first meet," App State coach
Michael Curcio said. "We're exactly where we want to be."
App State's top-10 finishers, based on runners eligible to score for teams, were eighth-place
Emily Fedders (18 minutes, 14 seconds) and ninth-place
Phylissa Greeley (18:15).
The Mountaineers' other scorers were
Megan Scannell (16
th, 18:29),
Kerry Leonard (17
th, 18:33) and
Natalie Kile (18
th, 18:39), while
Hana Ratcliffe (19
th, 18:42) and Kate Butler (23
rd, 18:47) rounded out App State's top seven.
Elisa Sargent finished right behind Butler with a time of 18:49.
"As a sophomore,
Megan Scannell really came through," Curcio said. "To be our No. 3 runner and have a big PR, it was kind of a breakthrough for her."
Curcio said he liked that the separation was short between his first and fifth runners (25 seconds) as well as his first and seventh runners (33 seconds).
Florida State benefited from a first-place performance by Militsa Mircheva, who completed the race in 16:53, and had four runners in top-seven scoring spots. Non-Division I program Southern Indiana was third in the overall standings with 74 points.
Team scores
1. Florida State 25
2. Appalachian State 68
3. Southern Indiana 74
4. UT Martin 116
5. East Tennessee State 126
6. Lynchburg College 193
7. Georgia Southern 199
8. Lenoir-Rhyne 206
9. UNC Asheville 253
10. Spartanburg Methodist 298
11. Mars Hill 344
12. Lees-McRae 350
