LAIE, Oahu - The University of Hawai`i women's cross country season got underway yesterday at the Chaminade Invitational, held at the BYU-Hawai`i campus in Laie, Oahu. UH finished the event in fourth place, with a total of 89 points.

According to Head Coach Carmyn James, one of the goals for this season is to shift the emphasis away from team results but instead progress towards stimulating the speed of the individual athletes. That speed will be necessary to produce solid times at this year's WAC Championships, slated for Nov. 1.

At today's competition, the athletes were striving to run each kilometer in less than four minutes. Many of the athletes accomplished this goal at the 3k mark of the race.

Of the 12 wahine to participate in the 5k race, two newcomers shined in their debut as they finished first amongst the squad. Freshmen Chantelle Lann, from London, Ontario, Canada and Monica Su, from Los Angeles, California, displayed fantastic speed and endurance as they both ran across the finish line at 21:26. Following shortly behind were juniors Jennifer Bell of China, California, who clocked in a time of 21:56 and Shayne Enright of Kailua, who posted a time of 21:57.

The wahine will be back in action next Saturday for the Hawai'i Invitational (5K), also at the BYU campus. The race starts at 7 a.m.