Felician Athletics - 9/19/09 WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY

BETHPAGE, N.Y. -- Junior Sarah Root (Aberdeen, NJ) and sophomore Leslie Feola (Oak Ridge, NJ) finished in the top 30, leading the Felician College women's cross-country team to a fourth-place finish among Division II schools at the New York Institute of Technology Running of the Bears on Saturday morning at Bethpage State Park.

The meet was scored separately by NCAA Division. It contained a total of 18 schools and 145 entrants. The Golden Falcons placed fourth out of 13 D-II teams, including first out of four Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference schools in attendance with 135 points.

Root ran the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course in 20 minutes, 47 seconds, good for 24th place overall. She has been the Golden Falcons' frontrunner for 10 consecutive meets dating back to last season. Feola crossed the finish line 29th in a personal-best 21:01.

Freshman Jackie Rivera (Haskell, NJ) was 39th in 21:25 on the fast, mostly downhill course. Completing the scoring for Felician were senior Sophia Chick (Edison, NJ) (52nd, 21:58) and sophomore Kaitlyn Minehan (Ocean City, NJ) (61st, personal-best 22:22).

The host Bears won the meet with 50 points, and NYIT freshman Cherutich Jeptui was the individual champion in 17:56. Complete results are available at www.just-in-time-racing.com/XC%202009%20Results/NYIT%20%20Womens%20Results.htm.