Press Release written by Mitchell Coll
NEWARK, Del. - - The Wilmington University men's and women's cross country teams enjoyed perfect race conditions today at the Delaware Invitational at White Clay Creek State Park. The women's cross country team finished fourth out of seven, while the men finished second out of nine.
The Women tallied 117 points in the 6K course at White Clay Creek State Park, with Yailynn Ramirez leading the way for the Wildcats. Ramirez navigated the course known to have some hills, as she finished 15th overall with a chip time of 26:35.55. Freshman Tiffany Banning was next to finish for the Wildcats with a time of 27:15.19 and 22nd place overall. Taylor Burchfield and Alexa Crowell finished within seconds as Burchfield finished 27th (27:48.17) and Crowell crossed the line in 30th (27:55.06). Samantha Banning finished in 38th with a time of 29:56.11.
Towson University Women's Cross-Country team finished 1st overall, scoring 28 points and an average time of 24:27.78.
The men's team tallied 71 points in the 8k course, with an average time of 29:47.70. Freshman Trent Taylor turned in another strong performance with a second overall finish. Taylor finished the 8k course at 27:24. 39 minutes. Daniel Wyshinski and Vaughn Lackman came back-to-back as Wyshinski finished in fifth (28:23.08) and Lackman in sixth (28:36.93). Hayward Boutte Jr. scored 24th overall with a finishing time of 31:10.53, and Nicholas Licup finished 43rd with a time of 33:23.59.
Taylor was the first NCAA finisher at the event, trailing only Delaware Track Club's Alex Horgan who won the meet in 26:49.76.
Delaware Track Club won the 8k meet with a score of 50 points with an average time of 29:16.91, meaning the Wildcats were the first NCAA program in the standings. Maryland Eastern Shore finished third with 92 points.
The Wildcats will travel across the country next Saturday to race in the NCAA D2 National Preview in Seattle, Washington. The men will start things off at 10:00 AM PST, followed by the Women at 11:20 AM PST.
