Maryville – Hosting its first and only meet of the 2023 season, the Maryville women's cross country team finished second in the Maryville College Invitational.
The Scots were running their first 6K of the season. Head Coach Kaitlyn Carringer-Adams was excited about her squad's performance in the race.
"We weren't sure about the times; four of our runners had never run a 6K before," Carringer-Adams said. "But we had goals, and every single runner beat her goal today. Our goal as a team was to finish in the top-two, and we did that. It's a great achievement for them."
There was a lot of talk about the difficulty of the course, and how it was going to help them prepare for the CCS Championship course at Piedmont.
"At first glance, it looks a little hilly. The first 800 meters are downhill, and then the woods are pretty flat and fast," Carringer-Adams said. "There's just this little hill right at the finish and it's tough; that's why you have to be competitive. It's probably the first true cross country course that we've run this year, and it's very similar to the conference championship course at Piedmont."
Isabelle Juda, Maryville's top finisher and third place overall, echoed her coach's sentiment.
""It's a true cross country course," Juda said. "Definitely more hilly than most we have seen. It wasn't flat."
Juda finished the course with a time of 26 minutes and 32.3 seconds.
"I'm proud of my time. It was our first 6K of the season, so it was good to see what I can do."
Following Juda in the Maryville lineup was
Kristina Buckley. The senior finished 15th with a time of 30 minutes and 46 seconds.
Anastasia Lamar and Shelby Armintrout were next for the Scots, finishing 18th and 20th respectively. Lamar crossed the finish line in 31 minutes and 7.3 seconds while Armintrout finished in 32 minutes and 0.8 seconds.
Danna Vasquez rounded out the lineup, finishing in 29th place after completing the course in 34 minutes and 26.9 seconds.
Maryville returns to action Friday, October 13 in the UT Chattanooga Invitational in East Ridge, Tennessee.
