Nov. 9, 2012

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Led by a 39th-place finish by junior Erin James, the Saint Joseph's women's cross country team finished 11th at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional 6K race on Friday afternoon at the Blue/White Golf Course at State College, Pa. With a total of score of 343, the Hawks missed the top ten by just three points in a meet that saw 215 runners from 31 schools compete.

Coming off of a 19th-place finish at the Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships, James clocked in at a new personal best in the 6K with a time of 21:47*, paced by a 5:50 mile. Running in only the past four races due to an injury earlier in the season, James has proved to be a vital asset to the Hawks as she has placed in SJU's top five in all four of her races.

A trio of juniors in Hannah Fuller (61st), Emily Chappell (63rd), and Elizabeth Barrett (80th) finished next for the Hawks. After battling injury through the first half of the season, Fuller came off of an impressive finish at the A-10s to improve on her personal best in the 6K by five seconds, crossing the finish line in 22:13*. After leading the Hawks at the Blue/Gold Classic, Fuller has finished in the top three for Saint Joseph's in the past two races. Chappell followed closely behind in 22:15*, slicing 29 seconds off of a personal best that she had set just four weeks ago at Princeton. Barrett, who has run six races this season for the Hawks, rounded out the junior class of SJU's top five with an overall time of 22:41, paced by a 6:05 mile.

Freshman Lauren Hehir continued to dominate in her rookie season as she rounded out the Hawks top five in 100th place, timing in at 22:57. In just the fourth 6K race of her collegiate career, Hehir set a new personal best in the event for the fourth time, finishing the meet in 22:57*. Hehir has finished in SJU's top five three times this season.

For a complete list of all participants, click here.

Saint Joseph's will now look to prepare for the ECAC Championships on November 17. The meet will be held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. and is set to start at 10:30 a.m. For more information on the event, click here.

Note: "*" denotes personal-best time