SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Appalachian State University women's cross country placed three runners in the top 10 and turned in a team score of 47 to take first place out of a 13-team field at the USC Upstate Invitational on Saturday morning.

"I'm very proud of the effort that the girls put forth this morning," said head coach Michael Curcio. We were able to win this meet without our top runner (Tristin Van Ord). With her out, a couple of seniors in Brittany Williams and Shelby Howell stepped up in a big way and so did freshman standout, Ann Sekutowski."

The Mountaineers improved upon a third-place finish in this event last year and as mentioned above, did it without top runner and three-time Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Week, Van Ord. The team's effort was spearheaded by redshirt sophomore Natalie Kile who crossed the finish line in fourth with time of 18:42.12 amongst a field of 124.

Close behind Kile were both Williams in seventh (18:51.64) and the freshman Sekutowski in ninth (18:55.55). App State's effort was rounded out by Howell in 13th (19:07.28) and Torre Moser right behind her in 14th (19:10.32).

In the team standings, the rest of the top five was made up by High Point (48), Florida Gulf Coast (79), Liberty (82), and Western Carolina (131).

Appalachian State is off for two weeks before the Wake Forest Open on Friday, Oct. 16, which is set to begin at 6 p.m. in Kernersville, N.C.