MADISON, Wisc. – Redshirt junior Sara Tsai paced the Commodores to a 24th-place team finish at the ultra-tough Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Friday.
Tsai, from Eugene, Ore., finished 58th in a field of 230 competitors to guide the Vanderbilt performance. She was followed by senior Devon Grisbaum, sophomore Anna Grace Morgan, junior Caroline Pietrzyk and freshman Haley Walker among the Commodore contingent.
The Commodores accumulated 500 team points in the 24th-place finish, which was a five-place improvement over Vanderbilt’s 2017 result at the meet, which drew 15 nationally ranked squads to Wisconsin’s Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.
“Today was definitely an improvement, and I see things moving in the right direction with this squad,” Vanderbilt head coach Steve Keith said. “Sara (Tsai) showed that she’s continuing to come back nicely with a solid performance.
“It was a great learning experience for the entire team. Our four runners behind Sara were in bunched together. Moving forward, we need to get that group further up in the pack,” Keith added.
Tsai ran the six-kilometer distance in 20:50.5. After reaching the 4K mark in 13:57, Tsai finished the race in strong fashion, passing seven competitors in the closing mile.
Though Tsai’s final time virtually matched her performances over the Zimmer course from races in 2015 and 2016, Keith said it marked her best effort over the venue, which will serve as the site of the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships. “It was a tougher course today. The conditions were less than ideal and it was a much slower course,” the coach added.
Grisbaum, a senior from Ocean City, N.J., registered one of her finest races as a Commodore, running 21:34.70 to finish 138th. It was a 30-second improvement over her 2017 effort over the course and marked her first team runner-up result ever.
Morgan, a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., and Pietrzyk, from Malibu, Calif., finished 149-150 with times of 21:41.60 and 21:41.80, respectively. Walker, from Toronto, Canada, was the final Commodore to tally team points, finishing 157th in 21:46.50.
Mailin Struck, a junior from Pinneberg, Germany, and Kendall Derry, a junior rom Fair Oaks, Calif., finished 176th and 199th with times of 22:04.80 and 22:27.40, respectively.
In a second “Open” division competition, Vanderbilt freshmen Alena Sapienza-Wright of Louisville and Grace Jensen of Mobile, Ala., finished 39th and 53rd with times of 21:58.70 and 22:22.00, respectively. Sophomore Gillian Mortimer finished 60th in 22:28.80 and junior Kacie Breeding finished 77th in 22;44.80.
The Commodores are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Texas A&M Arturo Invitational in College Station, Texas.
