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 Junior Rachelle Malette placed fifth at the NCAA Championship meet to earn All-America honors for the second consecutive year. |
Nov. 17, 2007
Joplin, Mo. - The Wayne State University women's cross country team concluded its 2007 season with a 14th place finish at the NCAA Championship meet held at the Missouri Southern State Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri. It was the best team finish since 2002, and the future looks bright as four of WSU's seven runners were freshmen.
The Warriors were led by junior All-American Rachelle Malette (Windsor, Ont./Holy Names) who placed fifth in a time of 20:48.7. Malette's finish is the best ever by a WSU women's cross country runner eclipsing the 14th place finish a year ago, and the 12th place finish by Shelley Vickery in 2002. This is the second straight season Malette has earned All-America accolades.
Malette was fourth in team scoring as an at-large individual from Emporia State was fourth individually.
Freshman Lauren Kessler (Ionia, Mich.) was 96th (77th in team scoring) with a time of 22:52.9, while classmate Allison Wykle (Trenton, Mich.) placed 98th (79th in team scoring) in a time of 22:57.1.
Graduate Student Tracy Egnatuk (Albion, Mich.) and senior Kara Kessler (Ionia, Mich.) rounded out the top five for WSU. Egnatuk was 101st (82nd in team scoring) in a time of 23:00.2, while Kessler was 119th (100th in team scoring) with a time of 23:16.8.
Freshman Brittany Colley (Ionia, Mich.) and classmate Annie Magin (Richland, Mich./Gull Lake) also competed in the national championship meet. Colley was 134th in a time of 23:38.7, while Magin placed 162nd in a time of 24:27.8.