Women's Cross Country 9th out of 32 teams at Louisville Meet

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Mercer women's cross country team finished ninth out of 32 teams in the Blue Division of the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday at Sawyer Park. Kentucky native Kacie Niemann led the Bears outstanding showing, despite being under the weather the day prior.

In all, four MU runners managed to run personal best times for the five kilometer race.

Niemann, battling a stomach virus, still managed to run the second-fastest 5K time in school history – 18:12.53 - in the return to her hometown. Niemann now owns the top four 5K times ever run for the Bears' program at that distance. She finished fourth in the overall race standings out of 257 competitors.

Sophomore Lena Hamvas was MU's second finisher, running a 19:07.72 to finish 49^th. Hamvas' time was just 54/100ths of a second off of her personal best at the 5K.

Sophomore Sammy Woller did establish a PR and placed 52^nd in the race at 19:09.45, while senior Christina Kivi also clocked in with a personal record time of 19:30.02, good for 85^th.  Kylen Hughes was 164^th (20:20.40), followed by freshman Illiana Garcia in a PR time of 20:34.27 in 178^th.

Sophomore Caley Cranford also set a personal 5K mark by posting a 22:04.47.