Women runners peaking at the right time

But the women ran fantastic:

"We had PRs (personal records) for our first three women and the team improved their top five average time from 21:47 at the Southeast Classic to 20:56 at this race.

91 19:56.67 – Eliza Parker, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

121 20:30.01 – Aisha Maddox, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

145 20:58.47 – Jessica Monte, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

157 21:17.26 – Megan Duncan, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

197 21:59.67 – Hannah Quinley, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

201 22:03.10 – Abby Wells, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

222 22:28.22 – Lauren Schneider, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College)

224 22:29.54 – Nikki Kaiser, female, (Spartanburg Methodist College) 370 finishers

"The women were ranked 23rd in the nation going into the weekend and this should be enough to push them back into the Top 20 for the first time since the opening week of the season. We really have momentum at the right time on the women's side, so this sets us up well for nationals."

"The women are absolutely peaking at the right time and we should have our best race of the season at nationals as we continue our tradition of Top 20 finishes."

"We've had some adversity on the women's team this year in terms of injuries and illness and to be running this well just shows the quality of the women on this team."

"The cross country tradition at SMC is astounding. We not only had the individual national champion in 2007, but also can claim 10 straight Region X titles for the men's team and the women have a matching set of 10-straight Region titles as well. Both teams have a habitual spot among the top 20 men's and women's teams at nationals each year.

 "The teams' athletic accomplishment are only outshone by their academic prowess, which included the No. 2 ranking in the nation for the women last year and a No. 9 national academic ranking for the men -- levels of achievement they expect to top this fall."