The women’s cross country team took on the Huntington Invitational in less-than-ideal weather on Saturday morning. The results were nothing short of impressive.

Senior Elaine Johnson paved the road for the Saints finishing second place with a time of 19 minutes and 20 seconds. Ashley Russo followed with a third place finish, earning a 19:29. Lucia Alfaro crossed the line in 6th place with a 19:34. Kristin Stobinski followed in fashion with a 19:41 and seventh place, and Lauren McMahon took ninth in 20:08.

The team said their main goals for the day were as follows:

1. Run fast enough to move up in the rankings, and

2. Win quarter zip jackets

Quarter zip jackets?

According to sophomore Lauren McMahon, cross country coach Kirk Richards made the team a little deal.

“We did a lot of fundraising this year, and we have left over money in our budget,” McMahon said. “Coach said if we won this meet, we could use some leftover money to buy the team quarter zip jackets, which we’ve been bugging him about for as long as I can remember.”

Richards’ proposal seemed to serve as outstanding motivation, as the ladies won the meet with a score of 26 points. Hopefully the team has much more in store for them this season (besides the quarter zip jackets, that is) as they begin to prepare for more action in the coming weeks.