Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, September 28
South Bend, Ind.
1 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
Notre Dame Invitational
Women's Cross Country Places Eighth at Joe Piane Invitational
9/28/2018 3:54:00 PM | Women's XC
Meyers and Cizmas paced the squad for the third consecutive meet
Final Results
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's cross country team placed eighth at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational (5k) in South Bend, Ind. Friday, Sept. 28. The Eagles posted a team score of 262 points, placing two runners within the top-25.
"I felt that the team was a bit off today," said EMU Head Coach Sue Parks. "The effort was there but we just didn't put together the kind of team performance that we needed to place higher. I think that it ended up being tough racing in two highly competitive meets on back-to-back weekends. I do think that we gained some more valuable experience and took a few positives out of the day which will help us down the road. Among our top five, I thought that Ashleigh Simonis had a strong day."
As a team, Eastern bested No. 21-ranked California (16th), as well as both Mid-American Conference opponents, Miami (ninth) and Central Michigan (17th). This is the second straight week Eastern has edged a top-30 program, after out-racing Providence in last week's Battle In Beantown, Sept. 21.
Eastern's 1-2 combination of senior Sydney Meyers (Zionsville, Ind.-Zionsville Community) and redshirt senior Natalie Cizmas (Clinton Twp., Mich.-Chippewa Valley) struck again, as the two finished 14th and 22nd, with times of 17:09.5 and 17:21.1, respectively. The co-captains have now finished first and second on the team in the last three consecutive races.
Junior Emily Smith (Somerset, England-Wells Cathedral) also had a strong performance, finishing 61st with a time of 17:57.6. Sophomores Ashleigh Simonis (Cape Town, South Africa-Milnerton) and Madison Distelrath (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Homestead) rounded out EMU's top-five harriers, crossing the finish line in 18:08.8 and 18:26.8 to place 74th and 95th, respectively. Additionally, Simonis' time serves as a new career-best 5k mark.
EMU has a week off competition before returning for pre-nationals in Madison, Wis. Saturday, Oct. 13.
Team Results
1. BYU 37
2. Furman 80
3. Florida State 113
4. Notre Dame 114
5. Duke 182
6. Northwestern 221
7. Iowa 253
8. Eastern Michigan 262
9. Miami (Ohio) 267
10. Clemson 271
11. Weber State 291
12. Southern Miss. 303
13. Dayton 321
14. Temple 322
15. LSU 356
16. California 372
17. Central Michigan 399
18. Baylor 431
19. Oklahoma 477
EMU Individual Results
14. Sydney Meyers 17:09.5
22. Natalie Cizmas 17:21.1
61. Emily Smith 17:57.6
74. Ashleigh Simonis 18:08.8
95. Madison Distelrath 18:26.8
134. Kaitlyn St. Bernard 19:04.2
149. Olivia Chandler 19:32.5
154. Lexi Seifert 20:32.2
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's cross country team placed eighth at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational (5k) in South Bend, Ind. Friday, Sept. 28. The Eagles posted a team score of 262 points, placing two runners within the top-25.
"I felt that the team was a bit off today," said EMU Head Coach Sue Parks. "The effort was there but we just didn't put together the kind of team performance that we needed to place higher. I think that it ended up being tough racing in two highly competitive meets on back-to-back weekends. I do think that we gained some more valuable experience and took a few positives out of the day which will help us down the road. Among our top five, I thought that Ashleigh Simonis had a strong day."
As a team, Eastern bested No. 21-ranked California (16th), as well as both Mid-American Conference opponents, Miami (ninth) and Central Michigan (17th). This is the second straight week Eastern has edged a top-30 program, after out-racing Providence in last week's Battle In Beantown, Sept. 21.
Eastern's 1-2 combination of senior Sydney Meyers (Zionsville, Ind.-Zionsville Community) and redshirt senior Natalie Cizmas (Clinton Twp., Mich.-Chippewa Valley) struck again, as the two finished 14th and 22nd, with times of 17:09.5 and 17:21.1, respectively. The co-captains have now finished first and second on the team in the last three consecutive races.
Junior Emily Smith (Somerset, England-Wells Cathedral) also had a strong performance, finishing 61st with a time of 17:57.6. Sophomores Ashleigh Simonis (Cape Town, South Africa-Milnerton) and Madison Distelrath (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Homestead) rounded out EMU's top-five harriers, crossing the finish line in 18:08.8 and 18:26.8 to place 74th and 95th, respectively. Additionally, Simonis' time serves as a new career-best 5k mark.
EMU has a week off competition before returning for pre-nationals in Madison, Wis. Saturday, Oct. 13.
Team Results
1. BYU 37
2. Furman 80
3. Florida State 113
4. Notre Dame 114
5. Duke 182
6. Northwestern 221
7. Iowa 253
8. Eastern Michigan 262
9. Miami (Ohio) 267
10. Clemson 271
11. Weber State 291
12. Southern Miss. 303
13. Dayton 321
14. Temple 322
15. LSU 356
16. California 372
17. Central Michigan 399
18. Baylor 431
19. Oklahoma 477
EMU Individual Results
14. Sydney Meyers 17:09.5
22. Natalie Cizmas 17:21.1
61. Emily Smith 17:57.6
74. Ashleigh Simonis 18:08.8
95. Madison Distelrath 18:26.8
134. Kaitlyn St. Bernard 19:04.2
149. Olivia Chandler 19:32.5
154. Lexi Seifert 20:32.2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
/ Women's XC
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