AU's Carlstrom Captures Maryland Invitational Title

Oct. 11, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The American University women's cross country team placed three runners in the top five, helping the Eagles to a first-place finish at the Maryland Invitational. Keira Carlstrom (Oakton, Va./Oakton) finished the course in a time of 17:37.5, edging Maryland's Allison Carney by 19 seconds to claim the individual title. It is Carlstrom's second individual title of the season, and she ran 32 seconds faster on the course than last year. Jen Baclawski (Ijamsville, Md./Urbana) finished third in a time of 18:14.31, which was just four seconds off of her time from a year ago. She finished a little over seven seconds ahead of freshman Kelley Taylor (Virginia Beach, Va./Kellam), who was fourth in a time of 18:21.77. Whitney McNees (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) snared eighth by seven seconds, finishing in a time of 18:54.68. Last year she finished 19th in a time of 19:31, and her time this year is more than a minute faster than 2001. Zaia Wharton (Elkins, W.Va./Elkins) posted a time of 19:28.13, which was good for 17th. Jessica Daniel (Wyncote, Pa./Cheltenham) came in 35th in a time of 20:18.72 while Kaitlyn Lavender (Neptune, N.J./St. Rose) was 72nd after finishing in a time of 22:13.77. American is now off until the Patriot League Championships, which will be held at Lafayette College on Saturday, November 1.