Friday, September 04, 2009

Led by a 16th-place showing from Alyssa Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago), the Valparaiso women’s cross country team ran to a fourth-place finish Friday evening at the Crusader Open, contested at Sunset Hills Farm in Valparaiso.

The Crusaders tallied 107 points for their fourth-place finish, outpacing Horizon League foe Green Bay in the process.  Notre Dame took home top team honors with 26 points, while the Irish’s Theresa Cattuna was the individual champion.

Bradford cut over a whole minute off her time from the same meet last year, finishing the 5K course Friday in 19:50 for her 16th place finish.  She was followed closely by Lindsey Gilman (South Bend, Ind./Marian), who came home 19th with a time of 19:53, and Caitlin Sauerhage (Rising Sun, Ind./Rising Sun [Indiana]), who placed 20th, crossing the line in 19:57.

Whitney Bowman (Valparaiso, Ind./Portage [Purdue]) was the next Crusader across the finish line, completing the course in 20:12, good for 25th place.  Sara Christensen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) rounded out the Valpo scorers with a 27th-place showing, coming home in 20:24.

Valparaiso returns to action in two weekends as the Crusaders travel to Nashville, Tenn. to compete in Vanderbilt’s Commodore Classic.  The 5K women’s race is slated for a 10 a.m. start.