Women's Cross Country Places 11th Overall at Crimson Classic

Friday, October 18

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

10:20 a.m.

University of North Florida

Crimson Classic

Women's Cross Country Places 11th Overall at Crimson Classic

10/18/2024 9:30:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

Final Results

Leen, Chandler Lead the Way in Top 75 Overall

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - North Florida women's cross country had a quality showing against some of the top teams in the Southeast with an 11th-place team finish at the Crimson Classic hosted by Alabama on Friday morning.

The field featured competitors from seven Power Four teams, including Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, Miss State and Clemson. As a team, the Ospreys finished over Southern Miss, South Alabama, FIU and familiar ASUN opponent, North Alabama.

Isa Leen led the way once again for the UNF squad in 61st overall for back-to-back top team finishes to close out the regular season. The Ospreys had six of their eight runners achieve lifetime-best marks, including Ella Chandler who almost beat her previous-best 6k time by a full minute.

FINISH LINE

Leen goes back-to-back as the Osprey women's team leader for 61st overall at 21:09.7.
She ran 25 seconds faster in this edition of the Crimson Classic from what she ran at Alabama during her freshman season in 2022.
Chandler had one of the best runs of her career with a time of 21:23.1.
The junior steadily moved up from 92nd at the 2k checkmark to 71st at the finish line.
Emma Millson fell right behind Chandler in 76th to record a mark of 21:30.7.
Cohen Kooker was the top freshman among the pack of Ospreys with her 86th-place finish for a lifetime best of 21:42.3.
Annika Buser, Melissa Bentayeb, Laci Watford and Brooke Yates all finished out the race among the top 150.
All four had career-best times, including Yates who made her collegiate 6k debut.

PIGG'S POINTS

"On the women's side, we were headed out knowing that when we run the ASUN meet in a couple weeks, we'll have Smilla [Kolbe], Ines [Arqued] and Ana [Markovina] all running. We didn't bring them here partially because of the 6k distance, so they had time to stay home and prepare. The women that we had here competed very well. Finishing 11th out of 16 teams was good, but we also had some very nice individual performances. Isa [Leen] continued to run up front and she ran 25 seconds faster than she did two years ago when we were here. Emma [Millson] running up there for us was big, but I think the breakout are was from Ella [Chandler]. She competed really well and we were thrilled to see that from her. Cohen Kooker did a good job being the top freshman on the team and in the top four. It was a very competitive and very well-ran meet with beautiful weather. Competing here in Tuscaloosa is always fun and they put on a great meet, so we're very pleased with how today went."
-- head coach Jeff Pigg