Women's Cross Country | 9/30/2017 5:04:00 PM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Four Wayne State University women's cross country runners placed in the top 50 as the Warriors raced to an 18th place finish in the Blue Race at the Greater Louisville Open on Saturday.

The 478-point score for the Warriors was capped off by junior Jackie Feist (Beverly Hills, Mich. / Birmingham Groves), who was second individually with a 17:49 finish in the 5K event.  Freshman Gabbi Willett (Holgate, Ohio / Holgate) clocked in at 19:31 and was 33rd, sophomore Teresa Diehl (St. Clair Shores, Mich. / Warren Regina) had a time of 19:39 was 41st, and freshman Emma Willett (Holgate, Ohio / Holgate) was 49th (19:49).

"Jackie ran very well, but we knew she was ready for a breakthrough," coach Grant Lofdahl said. "She's still got room to grow as a cross country runner. The rest of our women struggled a bit with the size of the race and they learned a lot. We've a couple more weeks to do work and continue learning how to handle different types of races. Then the championship season will be here."

Four other Warriors placed in the event. Freshman Kiersten Reeves (Ionia, Mich. / Ionia) was 54th (19:54), freshman Julianna Manserra (Toronto, Ont. / Bishop Strachan) was 70th, freshman Lyndsey Braman (Flint, Mich. / Powers Catholic) came in 76th (20:26), with senior Haley Boccomino (Macomb, Mich. / Center Line) coming in 80th (20:31).

The Warriors were also sixth among Division II schools, scoring 178 points.

UP NEXT 

The Warriors will finish out the regular season on Friday, traveling to Lansing for the Lansing Community College Invitational.