The LumberJills opened the 2009 XC campaign with their home meet, the Northland Invitational. With a beautiful blue sky and temperatures in the mid 60's, the women's race proved to be a great early season test for all teams involved. Gustavus Adolphus won the women's race with a team score of 19. Northland was 4th with 98 points. The Jills were led by three Firstyears, Hannah Fanney (17th with a time of 26:48), Katherine Boyk (43rd with a time of 29:58), and Samantha Lucheck (46th with a time of 30:07. "i am very proud of how our ladies ran today." states head coach Dave Beeksma, "It was a tough course and all the women had solid early season races. We are very excited about the new student athletes we have this year. They are going to have a very rewarding and fun year!"
Sophmore Emily Schlager (47th with a time of 30:10) and Firstyear Stacia Macy (63rd with a time of 33:59) completed the scoring for the Jills. Sophomores Aubree Meyer and Anna Rix also competed for the Jills (64th with a time of 43:07 and 65th with a time of 39:50 respectively).
Gustavus runner, Brooke Beskau, took the women's race with a time of 23:56.
"it is going to be a good year for the Jills. Once we have a few more weeks of training and few more races under our belts we will be a solid team in the UMAC conference.." Comments Beeksma. This is a great group women to work with. They work hard and really support each other. They are having a lot of fun this year!"
The Jills next race will be Saturday, Sept. 12th at the Crown College invitational.
Results