Freshman Erica Whitfield (l) and junior Lisa Bunn (r) helped SBU defeat #20 Edinboro

The SBU women's cross country team had all-around good timing this weekend at the 34th Annual Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago.

The #21 ranked Lady Bearcats completed their 6th place finish in the Gold race only 15 minutes before a thunderstorm hit the course on Montrose Beach just north of downtown Chicago.  SBU finished behind #2 Division II ranked Grand Valley State University, who won the meet with 38 points.  Following GVSU, only Division I Southern Illinois, Loyola, Northwestern, and NAIA #3 ranked Malone got the best of the Lady Cats.  Behind SBU in the team standings were Illinois State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Alabama, and #20 Division II ranked Edinboro.  Overall, 19 teams competed in the women's Gold division.

Senior Amy Broadhurst finished ninth to lead SBU in 18:16, a school record time for 5 kilometers.  Alyssa Maggart (36th, 18:56), Courtney Ayers (45th, 19:06), Chelsea Strahm (59th, 19:21) and Kristen Colon (64th, 19:27) completed the top-5 runners, while Andrea Owensby (85th, 19:56) and Erica Whitfield (87th, 19:57) helped push back other teams in the standings with their sixth and seventh place finishes.  Lisa Bunn (94th, 20:03), Christine Flippin (131st, 21:04), Kristin Dickerson (143rd, 21:33) and Kristin Edwards (159th, 22:33) were SBU's 8th-12th runners in the 175 woman race.

The Lady Bearcats will resume action this weekend at the SIU-Edwardsville Border Wars meet, where they will face five fellow MIAA schools in UCM, Missouri Southern, Emporia, Truman, and Pitt State.