Cross Country | 10/01/2021

COLFAX, Wis. – Racing against the biggest field of the season didn't seem to bother Fiona Smith or the College of Saint Benedict cross country team.
 
Friday evening, Smith won the third race of her CSB cross country career and the Bennies finished fifth out of 27 teams at the Blugold Invite, hosted by UW-Eau Claire at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wis.
 
Smith finished first out of more than 350 runners, including MIAC rivals St. Olaf and Carleton and host-school UW-Eau Claire. She finished in 21:37.28 – 10 seconds shy of the school record she set less than a week ago, but 21 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
 
Eau Claire and Carleton finished tied atop the leaderboard with 70 points each after each placing five runners in the top 25, but the Blugolds won the tiebreaker to finish first. St. Olaf took third with 94 points and UW-Oshkosh took fourth. The Bennies finished fifth with 183 points, ahead of sixth-place UW-Stevens Point. That marks the team's best finish at the event since 2014 when they finished fourth.
 
Junior Emily Demorett also finished in the top 25 for CSB as she took 24^th in 23:34.16 – a 24-second personal-best. Senior Tracy Renier finished 39^th in 23:45.48, and Bridget Tetmeyer took 67^th in 24:30.65. Sophomore Elise Yeager recorded a 6K personal-best, finishing 77^th in 24:39.86. Kalli Smith (120^th) and Keiley Maahs (129^th) rounded out the Bennies' top seven.
 
Carleton's Clara Mayfield finished second individually in 21:58.42, and UW-Oshkosh's Hannah Lohrenz took third in 22:12.78.
 
The Bennies have one more race before the MIAC Championships as they fly to Portland, Ore., on Oct. 16 for the Lewis & Clark Invite. The conference meet is Saturday, Oct. 30, in Northfield.