Dymek sixth in 24:15; Marnane eighth at 24:55

Results

NASHUA, N.H. (September 24, 2010) – Junior Melissa Dymek (Hubbardston, Mass.) finished 6th overall in a time of 24:15 on Friday afternoon to lead the Franklin Pierce University cross country team to a 3rd-place finish at the Rivier College Cross Country Invitational. Emerson's Heather Hoglund won the event individually with a time of 21:44 to lead the Lions to the team title.

For Dymek, it was the highest-place individual finish of her career, and it marked her best time by over a minute in three appearances at the Rivier Invitational. She was the first of a pair of Ravens in the top 10, as sophomore Keri Marnane (Cranston, R.I.) followed in eighth position with a time of 24:55. Fellow sophomore Jillian Garrity (Manchester, N.H.) followed shortly after in 25:07 to place 11th.

Freshman Bianca Acebron-Peco (Bow, N.H.) finished 23rd and freshman Natasha Pastor (Fitzwilliam, N.H.) placed 25th with times of 27:29 and 28:24, respectively, to round out the Ravens' top-five on the afternoon. Meanwhile, sophomore Brittany Mather (North Kingstown, R.I.) finished 26th (29:00), junior Elizabeth Iannuccillo (Amesbury, Mass.) placed 28th (31:03) and junior Ciara Chicas (Westerly, R.I.) came in 40th (33:48) to round out Franklin Pierce's participation in the event.

Emerson (37 points) picked up the team title, as the Lions posted a nine point victory over Norwich (46), though the latter featured the second-, third- and fourth-place runners individually. Seven points further back, Franklin Pierce (53) finished third, while Daniel Webster (104) placed fourth. Suffolk, Rivier, New Hampshire Tech and Nashua CC all participated in the meet as well, though none featured enough runners to score in the team competition.

Individually, Hoglund finished 17 seconds in front of Norwich's Mallory Clark (22:01), who was followed by teammates Jackie McElligott (22:57) and Megahan Grenier (23:41) in third and fourth, respectively. New Hampshire Tech's Samantha Provencher (23:56) rounded out the individual top five.

The Ravens return to action on Saturday, Oct. 9 at the Jim Early Invitational, hosted by Westfield State, at 11 a.m. in Westfield, Mass.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Two other ways to follow the Ravens are through the Department of Athletics' official YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics).