Felician Athletics - 10/2/09 WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY - Feola Leads Women At Paul Short Run

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Felician College cross-country teams traveled to one of the largest cross-country meets in the nation on Friday, participating in the Lehigh University Paul Short Run on Lehigh's Goodman campus.

Racing action occurred throughout the morning and afternoon at the college and high-school levels. The Felician women's team participated in the College White race, a varsity 6,000-meter event for Division II and III programs, and place 25th out of 34 schools with 727 points.

For the first time in her career, sophomore Leslie Feola (Oak Ridge, NJ) was the Golden Falcons' frontrunner, posting a time of 25 minutes, 37 seconds -- a personal-best for the distance. Feola finished 115th out of 248 entrants. It marked the first time since the 2007 NCAA regional that someone other that Sarah Root (Aberdeen, NJ) crossed the finish line first for Felician -- a span of 12 races.

Freshman Jacqueline Rivera (Haskell, NJ) was 13 seconds back of Feola, placing 119th in 25:50. Also scoring for Felician were senior Sophia Chick (Edison, NJ) (171st, 26:56), Root (173rd, 26:59), and junior Kaitlyn Minehan (Ocean City, NJ) (205th, 28:23).

The University of Ottawa won the event with 148 points, and junior Caitlin Dorgan of Delaware Valley College was the individual champion in 22:11. Complete results are available at www.paulshortxcrun.com/PaulShort/Results/2009_CW_White.html.