La Salle sophomore Helene Usher from Haddonfield ran the fastest time of the day among South Jersey runners, and UMBC sophomore Alexis Tepper from Cherry Hill was close behind in a different race Saturday at the Paul Shore Invitational.
Usher ran an all-course 6,000-meter PR of 21:05 on Lehigh’s Goodman campus in Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township and placed 64th out of more than 400 runners in a very fast, very deep women’s Gold race.
Usher was La Salle’s No. 2 finisher. Her time ranked 70th overall in a merge of 1,289 runners in the six women’s races. Her previous 6,000 best was a 21:43 at the NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Region Championships last November on the same course.
Tepper placed 4th out of more than 300 runners Saturday in the women’s Brown race. Tepper ran 21:20 over 6,000 meters on Lehigh’s south campus and finished just 18 seconds behind winner Katherine Lawson, a James Madison junior. Madison ran 21:02.
Tepper ran 17:47 pace over 5,000 meters with an extra 1,000 meters tacked on at the end. That’s faster than her 5K PR of 18:13 from a meet in August in Emmitsburg, Md.
Her previous 6K PR on any course was a 21:48 in the NCAA Division 1 Mid-Atlantic Region Championships in November on the same course. Her time ranked 106th out of those 1,289 runners.
Tepper’s 21:20 is 6th-fastest all-course time ever for 6,000 meters by a UMBC runner.
Bucknell freshman Shaelan McNally from Paul VI ran 21:44 in her first collegiate 6,000-meter race. She was Bucknell’s 3rd finisher in the Gold race.
Also sophomore Abby Waddington from Clearview was Boston University’s 6th runner with a time of 21:58, sophomore Maddie Dischert from Atlantic City was Rider’s 3rd finisher in the Gold race with a time of 22:11, Bucknell freshman Kerry O’Day from Cherokee ran 22:19,
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 