Friday, October 03, 2003

Danielle Nunnelly's (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) fifth place finish overall led the Valparaiso Crusaders to a fourth place finish as a team on Friday afternoon at the Notre Dame Invitational.

Nunnelly ran a season's best 18:25 over the five-kilometer course, finishing just 16 seconds out of second place.

The Crusaders tallied 120 points as a team, while Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the event with 96 points. Calvin College was second with 101 points, followed by Alabama-Birmingham with 113, and then Valpo.

Amanda Lee (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon H.S.) and Rachel Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit H.S.) finished 24th and 25th overall respectively, each turning in a time of 18:56.

Heidi Nathan (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford H.S.) was fourth across the finish line for the Brown and Gold with a time of 19:03, good enough for 32nd place. Elizabeth Whiting (Parma, Mich./Western H.S.) rounded out the scoring with her 34th place finish, three seconds behind Nathan.

The Crusaders will return to the trails on Saturday with those runners that did not compete on Friday running at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. The women's race begins at 11:15 a.m.