GCU women place fourth at George Kyte Classic

Saturday, September 3

Flagstaff, Ariz.

1:30 P.M.

Grand Canyon

George Kyte Classic

Photo by: Brian Campbell

9/3/2016 7:20:00 PM | Cross Country

George Kyte Classic Results Photo Gallery

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon women's cross country team kicked off the 2016 season with a fourth place finish at the George Kyte Classic, hosted by Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Ariz, on Saturday.

"Our women had strong showings for the first meet of the season," head coach Sara Slattery said. "The point of this meet is to get the rust out and get a gauge of our fitness and we accomplished that today and are right on pace."

Junior Mariah Montoya was the Lopes' top finisher, crossing the line 12^th overall with a time of 16:32 for the 2.6 mile course. Senior Anna Henry and freshman Paige Hildebrandt finished 14^th and 15^th place with times of 16:36 and 16:48, respectively. Kelli Stroupe and Lacey Peterson closed out GCU's top-five scoring finishing 21^st and 22^nd overall, both with finishing times of 17:01.

"Anna and Mariah had strong performances and improved from last year," Slattery said. "Paige really moved up the last mile and had a great day. Kellie has made a big jump in fitness from last year and ran really well with Lacey.

Other runners competing for the Lopes women today included Taylor Bond (28^th – 17:20), Bailie Jones (27^th – 17:27), Elizabeth Balsan (40^th – 17:45), Erika Wallace (41^st – 17:46) and Yarithza Soto (50^th – 17:57).

"I was very pleased with Taylor Bond and Bailie Jones," Slattery added. "They both had close to 40-second improvements from last year. Overall it was a great start to the season."

Arizona State took home the team title with 29 points, 16 points better than host Northern Arizona. Arizona finished third place with 72 points with GCU take fourth with 79 points. UNLV rounded out the team top five standings with 121 points. Arizona's Addi Zerrenner won the individual title with a time of 14:53.

The Lady Lopes will next race on Friday, Sept. 16 at the Dave Murray Invitational at Randolph Municipal Golf Course in Tucson, Ariz. The women's 4k will kick things off at 4:45 p.m. with the men's 6k following after.