KERNERSVILLE, N.C. – The High Point University women's cross country team ran to a first-place finish at the VertCross Invitational on Friday evening. The Panthers were led by
Lindsey Ickes, who finished with a career-best 20:39.2 as the champion in the women's 6K.
Head coach
Remy Tamer: "I thought the ladies ran pretty well. I think that the ladies that were up front, primarily our top-five did exceptionally well, they took some chances, trying new race plans, and experimenting with the last non-championship race and how to execute when the pressure is on.
Lindsey Ickes ran exceptionally well, she's an incredible athlete. She's having an incredible season, but that's not by mistake. Essentially, she's getting a chance to display what she's worked on. This is really a celebration of her fitness and preparation. She beat a very good athlete in Dorcus Ewoi from Campbell University, who's an All-American, and this fairs very well for her future in the next two races, which is the conference championships and regionals. But
Katie Taylor had, I wouldn't say a breakout race because it's always been there, but she had a race that shows that the immediate future, her championship season, is going to be special. She has an opportunity to be a huge player on our team. We had a couple of athletes out for various reasons, but they will hopefully be back for the conference championship, which is in two weeks, and we are really excited for that."
FINAL RESULTS
Ickes ran stride-for-stride with Campbell's Dorcus Ewoi through the first two miles before edging out to a three-second lead at the 4.2K split. Ickes pulled away over the next kilometer to hold on for a 12-second win.
Katie Taylor was second for the Panthers, finishing with a career-best time of 21:55.2, good for fourth place overall.
Anna Ritter,
Charli Montalvo, and
Camryn Harper finished eighth, ninth, and tenth overall, respectively, as the next three High Point finishers. Ritter recorded her career-best by nearly 43 seconds, finishing in 22:11.0 as Montalvo finished in 22:11.7, a career-best by 52 seconds. Harper rounded out the top-10 with a personal best of her own, crossing the finish line at 22:12.9.
Freshman
Sonia Piombino was the next High Point finisher in 15
th place, with a career-best time 22:43.5, over 1:08 faster than her previous best 6K time.
Alyssa Deeds followed in 20
th, finishing in 22:59.4 for a new personal best.
Tessa Webb finished 25
th in 23:26.4 while
Joanna Poland (23.53.6),
Julianna Higgins (23.59.2), and
Mikayla Moxley (24.01.9) finished 29
th, 30
th, and 31
st, respectively. Higgins and Moxley each ran personal bests, Higgins by nearly 45 seconds while Moxley's time was 35 seconds faster than her previous best.
Other finishers for HPU included
Madeline Quinn (24:10.7) in 34
th,
Nikki Frail (24:29.6) in 37
th,
Kaylee Copenspire (24:32.7) in 39
th,
Shauna Skow (24:33.0) in 40
th,
Lauren Vossen (26:05.6) in 52
nd,
Lauren Buckminster (26:21.0) in 54
th, and
Lilly Fowler (27:34.3) in 58
th place.
#GoHPU
