BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's cross country began the 2015 season by hosting the Covered Bridge Open on Friday night in Boone. The Mountaineers finished in third with 54 points behind first-place Florida State (29 points) and second-place Florida (42 points).

"It was tough for the women to open the season against two ranked teams, but that will help us down the line," said head coach Michael Curcio.

Tristin Van Ord paced the Apps in seventh place with a time of 18:13.72 and right behind her was Samantha Campanaro in eighth while being clocked at 18:25.58.

"Tristin is such a competitor and with the hometown crowd cheering so much, she really pushed the pace," said Curcio. "I am also really happy with Sam going after it as well."

The final three runners to score for Appalachian State finished one behind the other in 12th through 14th place. Those three were Brittany Williams (18:54.12), Natalie Kile (18:55.87/PR) and Ann Sekutowski (18:57.88).

Curcio continued, "Brittany helped pull along a fast-improving Natalie Kile and our freshman Ann Sekutowski really shined in her first collegiate meet."

Three more Apps finished in the top 25 including Hana Ratcliffe (16th - 19:00.85), Torre Moser (17th - 19:01.25) and Dana Cox (23rd - 19:15.56).

"Dana Cox is coming off an injury, but we expect her at full strength once she is used to her schedule," Curcio added. "I think Hana may have hurt her ankle in warmups, but with Moser running as our No. 7, that gives a 1 through 7 spread of 58 seconds. The spread for our top five that scored was 44 seconds, which is great for us at this stage. I look forward to the next two weeks of trying to see where we can develop. Finally, we'd like to thank all the fans for their patience during the weather deal and I think it was worth the wait."

Next up for App State is the Winthrop Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19 in Rock Hill, S.C. beginning at 9 a.m.