Williamstown’s Anna Sasse and Washington Township’s Ally Wernik helped the Rowan women record a convincing win over the top-ranked team in the Metro Region Saturday at the Profs’ own Border Battle in Logan Township.
Sasse, a senior, ran 22:11 over 6,000 meters at DREAM Park and placed 20th and Wernik, a sophomore, was 25th in 22:21, and Rowan finished 43 points ahead of Swarthmore in a showdown of the top two teams in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division 3 Metro Region.
John Hopkins, ranked No. 4 in Division 3, easily won with just 18 points on a 1-2-3-4-8 finish.
And the top South Jersey runner overall was Moorestown graduate Kate Inglis, a senior at Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Inglis placed 9th in 21:15, the fastest time ever record for 6,000 meters on any course by a Catholic cross country runner.
Swarthmore had a 26-30 lead after two runners, but Sasse finished six spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 3rd and Wernik nine spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 4th to put Rowan in command, and then the Profs’ 5th runner, Emily Zanni, finished 32 spots ahead of Swarthmore’s 5th to clinch 2nd place.
Rowan’s first two finishers were junior Gabriella Pagano of Pope John XXIII [14th in 22:01] and senior Mia Guerra from Hasbrouck Heights [16th in 22:02].
The next Metro Region rankings will be out Tuesday and Rowan presumably will be No. 1. Of the next three teams in the regi0n – The College of New Jersey, Widener and Moravian – only Widener raced at DREAM Park and they were 12th. TCNJ and Moravian placed 11th and 12th at the Mike Woods Invitational in Geneseo, N.Y.
Rowan will race next on Nov. 2 at the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships at the Green Lane Fields in Ewing.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 