Georgia State cross country dominated the ninth annual Jacksonville State University (JMU) Invitational Saturday with a first-place outing among seven schools finishing with five of the top six overall times.
The top spot went to senior Hannah Stefanoff who had a personal best 17:26.52. Second and third also went to seniors Stella Christoforou and Niamh Kearney with times of 17:51.47 and 17:53.05, respectively.
Freshman Jordan Townsley ended up with a time of 18:28.03 to take fourth. Nuria Ramirez’ posting of an 18:55.85 placed sixth.
Other Georgia State runners included Sarah Bearden, who finished 14th with a 19:32.42. Melanie Hamilt’s 19:53.78 put her in 16th place for the event. Mackenzie Nail placed 20th with a time of 20:06.61 and Carina Nieto rounded out the Panther runners with a 33rd place finish with 21:10.00.
The highest finishing non-Georgia State runner was Julia Ostendorf of Troy who placed fifth with a time of 18:40.68. Austin Peay’s Molly Jordan had a seventh place 18:56.76 finish. Jacksonville State’s Ju-ells McLeod (18:59.98), Austin Peay’s Jessica Gray (19:00.75), and Georgia Southern’s Karli Koning rounded out the top ten individual runners.
Georgia State competed in the red division of the JMU Invitational and had the best overall time at 16. Second place in the red division went to Austin Peay’s 62, while host school Jacksonville State had a 108, good enough for third place.
Troy placed fourth with a score of 113 while UT-Martin finished barely behind the Trojans with a posting of 115. Georgia Southern’s 120 and Alabama A&M;’s 208 rounded out the seven schools competing in the red division.
The white division featured another six schools. Emory took the top spot with a score of 24, followed by 41 from Columbus State.
Birmingham Southern placed third with a 95. Delta State finished with a 96, Spring Hill had a 117, and Miles College ended with 170 to round out the white division’s six schools.
Georgia State takes to the cross-country course again Oct. 17 for the Alabama Crimson Classic at the Pritchett Running Park in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at 6 p.m.
