Saint Mary's took 28th place out of 41 teams Saturday at the 2010 Sean Earl Invitational. The 5k race took place in Chicago and was hosted by Loyola University.
The women's division featured squads from all three NCAA divisions, as well as NAIA teams. NCAA Division I squad Northwestern took the top spot among the 41 on Saturday, followed by McMaster, Saint Olaf, Drake and Chicago.
The Belles score of 725 put the team only 5 points behind Indianapolis for the event. Saint Mary's was led by sophomore Julia Kenney, who crossed the line at 19:23, followed by junior Joanne Almond who finished with a time of 19:45. Sophomore Emma Baker took third with a 20:03 finish.
With the MIAA Championships at the end of the month, the Belles showed many signs of improvement as personal records were broken by four runners. Kenney's first place finish on the team marked a new personal best. Baker's third place finish for the squad was also a new career best that smashed her previous record by 22 seconds.
Seniors Catie Salyer and Sam Wassel rounded out the scoring for the Belles, as both also finished with new personal records of 20:10 and 20:11, respectively.
The Belles will be preparing this week for their next meet, which will take place Friday at Benedictine University.
