Dukes Finish 11th at NCAA Regional Meet

Friday, November 14

Louisville, Ky.

12 p.m.

James Madison University

NCAA Southeast Regional Championship

11/14/2014 2:30:00 PM | Cross Country

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Two runners placed in the top 50 to lead the James Madison women's cross country team to an 11th-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday afternoon at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park.

The Dukes were paced by their two all-conference performers in junior Kathleen Stewart (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) and sophomore Tessa Mundell (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin).

Stewart completed the 6,000-meter course in 21:01.3, to finish in 28th place out of 257 runners, as she led JMU in each race she ran this season. Mundell, the team's consistent No. 2 runner, was not far back of Stewart and she crossed the line in 21:14.2, good for 41st place.

Sophomore Carol Strock (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) was the third Duke to finish as she took 75th place (74 scoring) with a time of 21:48.6. Freshman Erica Gray (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) placed 98th overall (96 scoring) in 22:14.8 while senior Rachel Hagen (Sterling, Va./Potomac Falls) rounded out Madison's scoring in 103rd place (101 scoring), with a mark of 22:17.1.

Freshman Nicole Goff (Yorktown, Va./Grafton) and senior Tiel Westbrook (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) also ran for the Dukes Friday. Goff placed 168th with a time of 23:06.7 and Westbrook completed the team's 2014 meet in 23:44.3 to grab 204th place.

North Carolina's Annie LeHardy won the individual title in 20:13.4, followed closely by runner-up Carolyn Hennessey from William and Mary, who was the Colonial Athletic Association individual champion two weeks ago.

JMU compiled 340 points (28-41-74-96-101) to finish in 11th place, which was four spots better than its 2013 finish. The Tribe represented the CAA well as they won the Southeast Regional meet with 74 points after placing all five scorers in the top 25. Virginia followed in second with 82 points as both W&M and UVa clinched an automatic spot at the upcoming NCAA Championships.

The Dukes return to the course on Saturday, Nov. 22 when they race in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in the Bronx, New York. Last year, JMU was second place at the event.