September 29, 2007

Greensboro, NC- The Salem College Cross-Country Team excelled today at the Greensboro Cross-Country Invitational by finishing in a tie with Mary Baldwin College of Virginia, each with 51 points. Mary Baldwin College was declared the overall winner due to the tie breaking rule concerning the sixth runner on the team. With that declaration, Salem College finished second in front of Guilford College (54 points) and Meredith College (67 points).

Salem College’s Rachel Fichthorn (Jr., Nokesville, VA) had an incredible day as she broke the school 5K record by 22 seconds by finishing in 20:12 and winning the overall individual championship.

Following close behind was Salem’s Daphne Nichols (Jr., Machiasport, ME) with a second place finish in a personal best time of 21:16, an improvement of 1:33 in the last 2 weeks. Both Fichthorn and Nichols received trophies for their achievements.

Julie Piernikowski (FY, Potomac, MD) ran a seasonal best by 47 seconds to finish in 8th place in a time of 23:02. Lauren Meek (So., Draper, VA) ran a seasonal best of 23:58, an improvement of 31 seconds, and placed 14th. Ariel Barker (So., Monroe, NC) missed her seasonal PR by just one second by placing 26th with a time of 26:33. Anna Nieboer (FY, St. Cloud, FL) improved her 5K time by 2 ½ minutes as she placed 27th in a time of 29:12.

“I’m proud of the fact that each team member is improving and the team has been in contention for a team trophy at just about every race,” said Coach Widner.