Women's Cross Country Kicks off Summit League Championship Season

Saturday, November 1

Fargo, N.D.

12 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

The Summit League Championships

Women's Cross Country Kicks off Summit League Championship Season

10/31/2014 1:34:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - In the first Summit League Championship of the 2014-15 academic year, the IPFW women's cross country team will look to impress in Fargo, North Dakota on Saturday, November 1.

What: 2014 Summit League Championships
Where: Fargo, N.D. | Rose Creek Golf Course
When: Saturday, November 1, 2014 | 12 p.m. ET

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
This season the Mastodons have been paced in every meet by sophomore Brittany Beard, who has earned three Summit League Runner of the Week honors, while setting a new IPFW 5,000-meter record in Louisville.

Beard's 5,000-meter time remains the second-fastest 5k in the Summit League this season, while her 22:02.5 at the NCAA Pre-National Meet is the seventh-fastest such time in the league. Classmate Rachel Kacer has finished second for IPFW in each of the last three races, including a 19:10.53 at the Greater Louisville Classic.

Twins Brittany and Breanna Fensler have been at or near the top of the IPFW lineup all season, with Brittany leading the pair with a season personal-best of 24:50, while Brittany's season PR is 25:53.96 for 6,000-meters. Freshmen Kayla McGurk and Taylor Busch also help the young Mastodon squad, each with PR's under 25:25. In all, five of the eight Mastodon runners in the Championship are freshman, while two are sophomores and one junior.

LAST TIME OUT
A 14th place finish from sophomore Brittany Beard pushed the IPFW Mastodons to a 29th place finish in the second of two races at the 2014 Indiana State University Pre-Nationals Invitational hosted at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country course.

Washington State won the "White" race with 143 points, followed by Southern Illinois (182), and Iowa (246). Louisville (250) and Texas Tech (251) rounded out the top five, while Eastern Washington (252), Bowling Green (262), Central Michigan (328), Southern Utah (344), and Loyola (Ill.) (348) rounded out the top 10. IPFW totaled 736 points, ahead of UNC-Greensboro (746), UTEP (782), Central Arkansas (787), and Cincinnati (836) rounded out the teams in the field.

Beard's time of 22:02.5 is the second-fastest 6,000-meter time in the Summit League this season, and the fifth-fastest time in school history. Rachel Kacer placed 160th in a time of 24:18.4. A string of five freshmen followed, led by a 180th place finish from Breanna Fensler in a time of 24:50.5.

Kayla McGurk took 194th in 25:21.7, two spots ahead of Taylor Busch, who crossed the tape in a time of 25:22.8 to round out the team's scoring five. Brittany Fensler placed 204th in a time of 25:56.4, while Sydney Strang took 207th in 26:23.2.

Competing in the open race, Andrea Bell placed 87th in a time of 25:45.1, while Cheryl Morris and Emily Roman finished back-to-back in 92nd and 93rd, running times of 26:26.6 and 26:34.4, respectively.