Freshmen lead cross country at Vanguard Invitational
COSTA MESA, Calif. – For the second consecutive week, freshmen D.J. Smithers and Elisabeth Mitchell were the Chapman University cross country team's top finishers, this week competing in the 21st Annual Vanguard Invitational at Fairview Park. Of the eight Chapman runners who competed (four men, four women), four were freshmen.
Competing in the 5K for the second time this season, Mitchell finished 91st with a time of 21:44 maintaining a seven-minute per mile pace. She finished just 6 seconds off her career-best 5K pace set in the UC Riverside Invite earlier this year. The other freshmen runner for Chapman on the women's side, Kelly Kneis, finished with personal best 5K time of 22:03. Kneis, senior Kirsten Moore and sophomore Jessie Drews finished with times of 23:14 and 23:19, respectively.
Azusa Pacific's Poppy Lawman won the event with a time of 17:24. Azusa Pacific won the women's team event as well with three of the top-five finishers.
A pair of freshmen paced Chapman on the men's side, led by Smithers and Kevin Tatlock who finished 99th and 102nd. Tatlock ran a season-best time of 30:59, a half-minute behind the pace set by Smithers. Azusa Pacific's Abednego Magut won the individual event with a time of 24:59 while host Vanguard University won the men's team event.
by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant
Results: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/xc/2010-11/files/VUInvite.pdf