Cross country team takes sixth at Titan Invitational


By
 in ,

Sophomore Kelly Owen led a young USC women’s cross country squad to a sixth-place finish at Friday’s Titan Invitational at Cal State Fullerton.

Running without many of its top competitors, USC instead sent mostly freshmen and sophomores to the 5K race in Fullerton, Calif. in order to help them gain some race experience late in the season.

Owen set a 5K personal best with a time of 18:27.7, good enough for 19th place overall and 12th among scoring runners. The personal record was the second straight for Owen, who also ran a career best 6K last week at Cal State Northridge. Owen’s performance all but solidified her spot on the squad that USC will send to the Pac-10 Championships next week.

The rest of the Women of Troy’s scoring team from Friday consisted of mostly unfamiliar names. Redshirt sophomore Anniya Louis finished second for USC at 22nd overall. Louis, who has struggled with injuries since arriving in 2008, set a 5K personal best time in what was her first official race at USC.

Freshman Jaclyn Walles continued the trend of personal records with a time of 18:31, finishing right behind Louis at 23rd overall.

Allison Rojewski, the lone senior on Friday’s squad, finished 51st overall, followed by USC’s final official runner, freshman Francesca Adamski, who placed 65th.

Next up for the Women of Troy are the Pac-10 Championships in Seattle on Oct. 30. Expected to compete for USC are seniors Zsofia Erdelyi, Christine Cortez, Dina Kitayama and Zara Luken, junior Leah Gaeta, redshirt sophomore Jessica Lundin, and Owen.