Gallaudet women finish 5th at CUA Cross Country Invitational

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Gallaudet University women's cross country team finished in fifth place at the Catholic University of America Cross Country Invitational held at the U.S. Armed Forces Retirement Home campus on Saturday.

The Bison accumulated 135 team points led by juniors Rose Ritz (Wauwatosa, Wis.) and Kayla Castro (Tucson, Ariz.) who were the top two GU runners to finish the 6,000-meter course. Ritz was the first across the finish line in eighth place with a time of 27 minutes flat. Castro was four spots behind with a time of 27:38.

GU's next runner to finish was junior Adelaida Moreno (Anchorage, Ak.) in 29th place (30:40). The Bison had two of the final three runners of the day compete as junior Kirsten Swanson (Grapevine, Texas) and freshman Lucita Alford (Chicago, Ill.) finished 42nd and 44th overall, respectively. Swanson finished the course in 36:37 and Swanson's time was 40:29. GU missed the running of freshman Amy Bachtel (Columbus, Ohio), who was under the weather.

Juniata runner Laura Rupprecht won the race in 25:37 out of 44 runners. The host Cardinals won the women's team competition with 36 points to edge out Juniata (42 points) and Goucher College (82 points). Drew University took fourth-place with 101 points. This was the first cross country invitational hosted by CUA in 10 years.

Gallaudet will next travel to Towson, Md., to run at Goucher College on Saturday, October 10, at 11 a.m.

Also see:

• CUA Cross Country Invitational - Women's Results (PDF)