Clayton State women place sixth at Foothills Invitational at Jacksonville State

OXFORD, Ala. – October 8, 2011 – Running its last meet before the Peach Belt Conference championships, the Clayton State Laker women's cross country team turned in one of its strongest performances of the season on Saturday at the Foothills Invitational.

The Lakers finished sixth overall in the 12-team event, hosted by Jacksonville State. Clayton State earned 157 points, finishing nine points ahead of West Georgia and 14 points in front of Peach Belt Conference rival Columbus State. The Lakers fell 14 points off the pace of fifth-place Tennessee Tech.

Emory won the event with 32 points, 24 ahead of Jacksonville State.

Clayton State had three runners break 20 minutes in the 5K event. Sophomore Samantha Walling had the best finish in 18th overall with a time of 19:21.49, while sophomore Paige Galvin placed 27th in 19:35.35 and freshman Jessica Smith placed 30th in 19:44.12.

In addition, freshman Maia Kuhnen finished 46th in 21:19.97, followed by sophomore Gisele Javois in 79th in 21:29.34. Freshman Holly McNorton finished 89th in 22:03.69, and sophomore FeLeisha Dyer finished 98th in 22:40.95. Both runners ran season-best times in the 5K.

The Lakers will compete next in the Peach Belt Conference championships on Oct. 22 in Aiken, S.C.