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POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 3, 2011) – For a sixth straight year, the Vassar College women's cross country team successfully defended its title as champions of the annual VC Invitational. By placing runners in the second through fifth slots, the Brewers fended off a spirited effort by SUNY New Paltz to lead the 10-team field.

The Brewers, who had five of the top ten finishers in the 5k race, earned the championship with 24 points at the race held at the Farm. SUNY New Paltz finished second (36), led by individual champion Nicole Wischoff, who finished in 19:22 in the 121 runner field. Stevens was a distance third place (105), followed by Mount St. Mary (112) and Nyack (145), rounding out the top five.

On a late morning when temperatures and humidity rose at the start, Vassar got a second place overall finish from sophomore Aubree Piepmeier who finished in 20:01. Senior Samantha Creath was third in 20:15, junior Kelly Holmes fourth in 20:28, sophomore Chloe Williams in fifth (20:30) and junior Tiffany Marchell rounded out Vassar's scoring continent (20:53). Senior Hannah Ziobrowski was Vassar's sixth finisher (21:00), and sophomore #Emily Garber# not far behind (21:10), placing 11th and 13th overall. 

At the one mile mark, Wischoff took over the race, while a packed in Vassar crew kept together, which was the objective of the season opening race.

“Today felt like a true beginning of the season race” said Piepmeier. “It's definitely great that we're able to start off winning the Invitational, but we still have a long way to go.”

Piepmeier and Holmes ran together throughout the early stages of the race, which helped the Brewers secure top finishers.

“Our goal was to run and work as a team,” said Holmes. “Times weren't our main focus. We wanted to stick together as a team.”

Coming off the success of the 2010 season and entering this year with a 28th national ranking and a sixth Atlantic Regional ranking was impetus for the Brewers to start off this fall on a positive note.

“I saw parts of the race where the women could have been a little more aggressive,” said head coach James McCowan. “We ran a controlled race, and given we're missing a few pieces of the team (senior Elizabeth Forbes did not compete), we'll only get deeper and stronger in the coming weeks. I was ecstatic with how well Tiffany and Chloe ran today – those two provided meaningful points to the outcome.”

The Brewers will have an off week next Saturday, and will resume racing on September 17 at the RPI Invitational in Saratoga, NY.