Eric Andrews and Landry Long | The Echo
Four career-best times powered the Taylor women's cross country team to a second-place finish at the Bethel Invite last Friday in Mishawaka, Indiana.
The seventh-ranked Trojans posted an overall team time of 94:26, their second-fastest time of the season and seventh-fastest time in program history.
Despite being edged out by No. 3 Aquinas by 1:05, the Trojans' top five runners all finished in the top 20 of the meet.
Sophomore Mae Elizabeth Gimre paced the Trojans, finishing third out of the 165-runner field with a career-best time of 18:19. Gimre's time was the fifth-fastest in program history.
Gimre's performance earned her third consecutive Crossroads League Female Runner of the Week honor. Gimre has improved her personal-best in each of the last three races and has posted an individual win-loss mark of 791-19 through the Trojans' first four meets of the season.
Sophomore Rachel Blagg gutted out a career-best time of 18:34 to claim seventh place in the meet and the 11th-fastest time in program history.
"It was a good race for me because I was able to stay up with the Aquinas pack," Blagg said. "That was the highlight of the race. I felt really strong the whole way."
Freshmen Taylor Bluemel and Naomi Noyes also posted career-best times for the Trojans. Their times of 19:05 and 19:13 put them in 14th-place and 19th-place finishes, respectively.
Sophomore Michelle Franch rounded out the Trojans' top-five, marking a time of 19:13 to finish in 18th-place.
Head coach Quinn White was pleased with the team's effort and the progress they have made this season.
"It was a good performance for us," White said. "We had about half the team that got season-bests. (Gimre and Blagg) ran exceptionally well. We had some other people really step up. Some people that are not even in the top seven ran really well."
The Trojans aim to claim their fourth consecutive Crossroads League Championship this year despite having a young team.
Blagg feels that the team will continue to be successful if they can maintain their focus on staying together as a group.
White says the team is tinkering with what they have and working on various elements to strengthen themselves prior to the Crossroads League and National Championships.
"We're really just chopping wood and carrying water," White said. "Everything we do is basically setting us up for (the Crossroads League and National Championships). One big thing we are trying to do is practice like we will race and race like we will practice."
The Trojans will have a week off before returning to action on Oct. 22 at the Great Lakes Invite in Grand Rapids.
"Photograph by Fayth Glock"
