Race Results

WESTFIELD, MA (October 9, 2010) -- Placing four of its five scoring runners all in the top ten, the Vassar College women's cross country team ran away with the championship of the James Early Invitational hosted by Westfield State on Saturday morning.

Led by a group of runners that finished first, third, fourth, eighth and tenth, Vassar won the race decisively with 28 team points. Trinity was second with 63 points, followed by Westfield State (135), Salve Regina (140) and Coast Guard (153).

Junior Johanna Spangler led from start to finish, winning the 5k race in 18:29, her best ever finish on the course. Spangler's performance set the tone for a strong team performance from the Brewers. Freshman Aubree Piepmeier turned in a phenomenal performance, finishing third overall as Vassar's second place finisher in 18:53.

Sophomore Kelly Holmes was fourth overall (18:55), followed by senior Zoe Carpenter in eighth (19:05) and junior Elizabeth Forbes in 12th position overall (19:19).

“We have been running this event since the early 1990s and this is the best performance we've ever had here,” said head coach James McCowan. “We had really strong races from everyone, showed our team depth and I know that our team can run even faster.”

Vassar's sixth overall finisher was junior Samantha Creath in (19:39), which was 15th best in the race. Rounding out the contingent was junior Hannah Ziobrowski in 21st overall (19:43).
“We had beautiful racing conditions today and we were more focused going into the race than last week,” said McCowan. “We were assertive, ran together and came here to win the race.”

The Brewers will next host the annual Seven Sisters Championship at the Farm Course on Saturday, October 16 at 11:00 a.m.