Photo courtesy of JU Dolphins

The Jacksonville University women’s cross country team, backed by junior Joane Pierre, ran away with a victory at the University of Central Florida Attack Challenge. The Dolphins tied evenly with the UCF Knights, sharing the victory on Friday Oct. 14.

Despite lacking a full size team with some members failing to show up, the team managed to rack up 88 points, drawing even with the Knights of UCF atop the leader board.

Pierre finished with a time of 21:47:32, earning her the top spot for the second straight meet.

“Joane ran really well and has set herself up nicely a shot to win an individual conference championship,” said JU head coach Ron Grigg.

Sophomore Svenja Meyer posted a time of 22:47:95, grasping decisively onto 6th place. Freshman Sarah Bailey finished 12th with a time of 23:34:60, junior Amalia Vogler 29th with a time of 24:14:51 and junior Alicia Grad-Kaminkow finished 40th with a time of 24:45:23.

JU now has a two-week span to prepare, practice and perfect for the Atlantic Sun Conference in Nashville, Tennessee on Oct. 29.

Come tournament time, Pierre and the team will strive to obtain both individual victories and a group triumph. While there is immense pride in an individual title, for the team, nothing would be as fulfilling as obtaining the team conference championship.

Over the next two weeks the ladies will be immersed in a world of training and conditioning, focusing on their soon impending surge for the title.

Photo courtesy of JU Athletics

The JU Women’s Cross Country team was back on the run again this weekend in Titusville, Fl. at the FLRunners.com Invitational.

The Dolphins had a strong overall showing Friday, September 30, as they placed second in the field led by junior Joane Pierre. She came away with the win in the individual section of the invitational with a time of 17:35.20, two seconds shy of the school record she set.

“This weekend I was more competitive then last weekend, but my main goal is working towards making each race better then the previous one,” said Pierre

Sophomore Svenja Meyer and senior Bailee Hedstrom also chipped in to this strong finish with times of 18:18.60 and 18:30.20 respectively.  Junior Morgan Keel clocked 18:52.90 and freshman Sarah Bailey 19:00.0 to take 11^th and 12^th place in the invitational.

Friday the women definitely improved in regard to times and technique as they improved overall from last weeks performance in Gainesville.

This was easily one of the strongest performances the Lady Fins have put together this season, and its perfect timing with conference championships at the end of the month.  All around team efforts like this will make them favorites in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

“We did an amazing job, we challenged ourselves, and were able to maintain a competitive race across the board,” said Pierre.

Junior’s Amilia Volger, Bienna Freeman and senior Alicia Gard-Kaminkow all placed in this even as well, 15^th, 19th, and 25^th respectively. JU Head Coach Ron Grigg was very impressed with the efforts of the women that afternoon.

“Today was a huge improvement over last weekend, they knew the goal was to compete and they did just that,” said Grigg

This is high praise from Coach Grigg who has been around for some time now, and coached multiple champions, so hopefully this year’s team will be next in line.

The Dolphins have one more event before what they work all off-season for, and that is the A-Sun championship on October 29. JU will find their next finish line in two weeks at the UCF Knight Attack Challenge in Orlando on October 14.

Photo courtesy of JU Athletics

The Jacksonville University Women’s Cross Country team took part in the Mountain Dew Invitational on September 24, in Gainesville, Florida. The Dolphins were led by strong performances by senior Bailee Hedstrom who ran an 18:48.67, and junior Joane Pierre who logged a time of 18:07.86 to claim twelfth place overall.

The Lady Fins finished fourth that afternoon and recorded 139 points. This was the third time in four seasons the Dolphins ranked the same position. Pierre sees room for improvement as the season moves on.

“We did alright this race, we were testing the waters, we felt like our best efforts were not on display so we are looking forward to Friday to see what we really have,” said Pierre.

JU will be back in action on Friday, September 30 to participate in the FLRunners.com invitational in Titusville, Fla.