CLARKSVILLE - Junior Janelle Avery leads the Austin Peay
State University women's cross country team as it competes in the 9 a.m.,
Saturday, five-kilometer event at the Ohio Valley Conference Women's Cross
Country Championships hosted by Tennessee Tech at Southern Hills Golf Course in
Cookeville.
Avery is finishing the 2010 season with impressive efforts
in the Lady Govs' last two events. She finished 49th overall with a time of 19:23
at the Greater Louisville Classic, Oct. 2, followed by an eighth-place finish
at the Fast Cats Classic, Oct. 16, with a season-best time of 18:55. Avery will
look to improve on her 31st-place finish in last season's version of this
event.
Freshman Xiamar Richards also has improved with each
eight-kilometer race, posting a season-best time of 19:20 at the Fast Cats
Classic where she finished 17th overall. Freshmen Kendra Kirksey and Miranda Weed have traded third and fourth place between them at the eight-kilometer
distance, both falling shy of their personal-bests at the distance in their
last outing.
However, the story this season has been the gap between the
Lady Govs fourth and fifth runners. Sophomore Alyssa Molnar has been the team's
fifth runner at the eight-kilometer distance and has steadily been catching the
team's fourth-place runner, cutting the gap to less than one minute at the
Greater Louisville Classic. How close she runs to the team's front four ultimately
could decide the Lady Govs finish in the team championship.
The Lady Govs final three runners - freshmen Kayla Satterly, Megan Barbarotto and Shannon Christian - will be able to factor in
the team championship as well with strong finishes. Barbarotto and Christian
set personal-bests in their last outing while Satterly's personal best came one
race earlier at the Greater Louisville Classic.
"Janelle and Xiamar have stepped up the last couple of
weeks and solidified the top couple of spots, but I wouldn't count out Miranda
or Kendra," said APSU head coach Doug Molnar. "We are very young with three
freshmen in our top five, but this is a very good bunch. We'll go out and
compete as we have all year and let the results show for themselves. We just
have to keep our gap between number four and Alyssa, our fifth, as close as
possible."
- AP -