Women's Cross Country kicks off season at WUSTL Early Bird Meet

Sept. 8, 2011 -The Fontbonne University women's cross country teams kicked off the 2011 season last weekend at the Wash U Early Bird Meet in St. Louis. The squad posted a strong individual performance and show promise heading into the 2011 season.

The Griffins placed tenth out of a total of fifteen teams. The meet boasted a total of 151 runners. The Lady Griffins were paced by sophomore Marielle Counts who ran the 4000 meter course in a time of 17:09 placing her 58th overall. Fellow sophomore Alyssa Tonner finished right behind Counts with a time of 17:16 which was good for a 59th place finish. Sophomore Jessica Brock crossed the finish line with a time of 18:20 finishing in 89th place while senior Anne Marx ran the course in 18:38, good for 96th place. Sophomore Marcy Meyer and junior Erica Garcia finished with times of 19:57 and 20:26 respectively.

First year head coach Jeff Barker was pleased with the team's effort but feels there is a lot of room for improvement.

"We are still working on getting our fitness level up from lack of summer training.

Marielle Counts and Alyssa Tonner did a good job upfront. We need to fill in the gaps behind them and work on being more aggressive. I feel we can compete much better and this will come over time. We are looking forward to the end of October and early November to run our best."

The Griffin women's cross country team returns to action Friday September 9th as they travel to Warrensburg, Missouri to compete at the University of Central Missouri Mule Run at 5:55pm.