RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Paced by a 43rd-place 6k debut effort by junior Danielle Girard, the University of Hawai'i cross country squad finished ninth at the Agricultural Operations Course in the 2017 Big West Cross Country Championships.
 
Running the first NCAA 6k race of her career, Girard (Eugene, Ore.) recorded a time of 22:31.5 for the fastest UH mark of the season to come in 43rd.
 
"Danielle had her best race at UH and showed she can be a competitive Big West runner," head coach Tim Boyce said.
 
La Mesa, Calif. freshman Sienna Santiago was second for the Rainbow Wahine, running a 23:36.8 for 56th place to best her previous season mark, which had topped the UH 6k charts since the Bronco Invitational. Next up for UH, junior Giovanna Casazza (Reno, Nev.) was 58th in 23:46.5, ahead of sophomore Lisa Tashiro (Honolulu, O'ahu) at 66th in 24:17.2. Sophomore Piper McDonald (Bend, Ore.) rounded out the UH scorers in 66th place at 24:56.7.
 
Also competing for UH at Big West, junior Kai Hoshijo (Honolulu, O'ahu) finished 67th in 25:24.4.
 
The Rainbow Wahine logged a score of 259 and team average time of 23:49 to finish ninth.
 
"The team competed hard today," Boyce said. "Can't ask anything more from them, as we are persevering through a number of health challenges. We'll look to string together some healthy training days in anticipation of the NCAA Regional in Seattle."
 
The Rainbow Wahine travel to University of Washington's Jefferson Park Golf Course in southeast Seattle for the NCAA West Regional on Friday, October 10. UH finished 25th as a team in last year's Regional in Sacramento, Calif.