October 11, 1998

LAWRENCE, Kan -- On Saturday, Oct. 10, the Villanova women's cross country team ran to a third place finish at the Pre-NCAA meet in Lawrence, Kan. The race was held at the Rim Rock Farm Course which will also be the site of the 1998 NCAA cross country championships to be held on Monday, Nov. 23.

The Stanford Cardinal captured the team title with 65 points, followed by Arizona with 145 points and Villanova with 152 points. North Carolina State and Northern Arizona rounded out the top five with 162 and 171 points respectively. Arizona senior Amy Skieresz won the individual title in a time of 17:00.49.

Villanova ran strong, placing four runners in the top 20 spots. Kristine Jost (Sr., Kent Island, Md.) led the Villanova charge with her ninth place finish in a time of 17:36.82. Jost is returning to action this year after redshirting the entire 1997-98 season due to injury and illness. The Pre-NCAA meet was just Jost's second race of the young season. On Saturday, Oct. 3, she recorded a third place finish at the Paul Short Invitational.

Kristen Nicolini (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) continued her strong season, by covering the Rim Rock Farm terrain in 17:44.12 to finish 11th overall. In her two previous meets this year, Nicolini captured top individual honors at both the Lafayette Invitational and Paul Short Invitational. Junior Carmen Douma (Cambridge, Ontario) ran well for head coach Marcus O'Sullivan and the Wildcats, finishing 13th in 17:48.20.

In only her second race as a collegiate, freshman Sarah Vance Goodman (Asheville, N.C.) gave Villanova its fourth top 20 finisher with her 18th place performance. Vance Goodman was clocked in 17:54.33.

Villanova's scoring was rounded out by Ann McGranahan (So., Pensacola, Fla.) who ran 19:10.28 and finished 101st. Meghan Courtney (So., Waterloo, N.Y.) registered a 219th place finish in a time of 20:34.88.

The Wildcat men's and women's squads will return to action next Saturday, when they travel to New York, N.Y. for the ECAC and IC4A meet.