The UVa Wise women's cross country team battled heat, humidity, mud, illness, and injuries at Montreat on Saturday.

There were several highlights for UVa Wise on a day ran under difficult conditions of heavy mud and high heat and humidity, producing very slow times. In addition illness and injury produced a reduced squad. Sarah Elbon led the team with a 30th place finish in 23:23, followed closely by Freshman Alaney Bishop having a stellar first college race by finishing 31st in 23:37. The lead two were shadowed by captain Samantha Balthis who finished in 39th place with a 24:10. Since Division I school Appalachian State fielded a team of seven runners in the race, and dominated, one could calculate the finishing places against non-DI schools for UVa Wise's first three runners as 23rd, 24th, and 32nd, all in the top half of the field.

Madison Compton showed good early form with a 55th place finish in 25:08, while freshman Gace Craddock had a solid start with a 58th place finish in 25:53. However, disaster struck for two of the UVa Wise star runners: Whitney Carico and freshman Caitlin Emond, both of whom suffered injuries during the race and had to eaase well off the pace. Emond finished in 56th place while Carico finished 61st. Meanwhile, senior Megan Hilliard was unable to start due to illness. The depleted squad finshed in 8th place. Overall, Appalachian State won the meet handily over 2nd place Emmanuel.

Results