By Alanna Huggett, UWEC Sports Information
Bloomington, MN. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire women's cross country team competed in their first official meet of the season on Saturday at Hyland Greens Golf and Learning Center hosted by Augsburg University.
The UW-Eau Claire women battled against warm temperatures Saturday morning. The Blugold women finished 5th with 135 points with the University of Minnesota-Duluth winning the meet.
Samantha Slattery (Jr. - Waunakee WI/Waunakee) led the Blugolds winning the meet with a time of 23:32.7, finishing 15 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from the University of Wisconsin- River Falls.
Following Slattery were Lexie Tremble (Jr. – Muskego WI/Muskego) 14th, Emma Drangstveit (So. – Lakeville MN/Lakeville North) 33rd, Liz Cisewski (So. – Stevens Point/Pacelli) 43rd and Hannah Lamack (So. – Kewanee/Kewaunee) 44th.
Due to high temperatures, Coach Dan Schwamberger told the team to focus on being patient, take the race as a workout and run in packs which showed in the race.
"Looking at the women's results it shows the 3k split and I think every single woman on the team moved up over the last 3k," said Schwamberger. "I feel like the results don't really show where we are at. I was pleased; it was a good workout."
The women's cross-country team has a week off for training and recovery before racing again on Friday, September 28th at their own Blugold Invite located at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax.