Final Results

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The University of Hawai'i women's cross country team placed 10^th at the Bill Dellinger Invitational Friday at the Springfield Country Club. The Rainbow Wahine made their first appearance in the highly competitive field, which included host and second-ranked Oregon.

 

Fifth-ranked Villanova won the women's team title with 22 total points and five runners placing in the top 10. Oregon was second (41) followed by Baylor (86), UTEP (109), Colorado State (131), San Francisco (172), Weber State (178), Oregon State (195), Portland (224), and Hawai'i (264).

 

For the Rainbow Wahine, junior Ashley Aitken set a huge personal best with a time of 17:53.10, placing 44^th overall and leading the UH contingent of eight runners. Aitken, a native of Napier, New Zealand, transferred to Hawai'i from Tulsa, where she spent the last two seasons running cross country and middle distance events for the Golden Hurricane.

 

Senior Jessica Forrester, a transfer from Tampa where she was a Division II All-American, completed the 5K course in 18:10.66 to finish 53^rd overall, while Mariana Monasi was close behind with a personal best 18:28.76 for 60^th place.

 

Also scoring team points for Hawai'i were Tava Tedesco (19:02.56, 72^nd) and Liisa Cushing (19:05.39, 74^th). UH's other competitors included Ashlee Jimenez (20:22.83, 83^rd), Alexandra Herd (20:25.04, 84^th), and Gina Nourmohamadian (20:43.41, 85^th).

 

Villanova's Sheila Reid captured the individual title with a time of 16:22.92 followed by Oregon's Alex Kosinski at 16:25.75.

 

The Rainbow Wahine will next compete in the Santa Clara Invitational, Oct. 17, while its “B” team will participate in the BYU-Hawai'i Invitational that same day.