Oct. 19, 2007

The USC women's cross country team ended the regular season on another positive note as senior captain Laura Meyers finished first among collegiate women to lead the Trojans to a second-place finish today (Oct. 19) at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton, Calif.

Meyers ran the 5K course in a time of 18:08 to lead all collegiate entrants, 34 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher Cassie Mitchell of Orange Coast College. OCC defeated USC in the team score 55-62, despite the Trojans' combined overall time for their top five finishers being better by 14 seconds (1:36.19 to 1:36.33).

"Laura ran a great race today and is finally back to her old self," said USC cross country coach Tom Walsh. "Her 18.08 time is one of her fastest times and this puts her on track for the Pac-10s next week in Corvallis, Ore."

With Meyers' win, a USC runner has taken the individual title in four consecutive races. First freshman Sarah Cocco won the Aztec Invitational (Sept. 15) and the Pepperdine Invitational (Sept. 22), then freshman Zsofia Erdelyi won the UCSD Triton Invitational (Oct. 6) and now Meyers win at Fullerton. USC had four different runners lead them in the five regular season races, with sophomore Bridget Helgerson finishing as the Trojans' top runner at the CS Fullerton Season Opener (Sept. 2).

Finishing second among USC runners and sixth overall today was sophomore Katherine Ellis with a personal-best time of 19:02. She was followed closely by current teammate and former high school teammate Zara Lukens, who placed 11th with a time of 19:19, also a new PR.

"Kat and Zara ran their best races of the year and really bolstered their chances of making it to the Pac-10 Championships next week," added Walsh.

Placing fourth for USC and 17 overall also with a new PR of 19:42 was sophomore Jennifer Wells.

"Jennifer capped off her season in a great way with a new collegiate best," said Walsh. "She competed really well and this is a great way to end her season."

USC's fifth-place and sixth-place runners respectively were freshman Brianna Bentley and Kristin Byrne. Bentley placed 27th overall with a time of 20:08 and Byrne placed 34th with a time of 20:34.

Also running today unattached was Lindsay Buckley, a redshirt junior who is sitting out this year after transferring from Irvine Valley College.

"Lindsay ran unattached today just to get the feeling of competition again," said Walsh. "She continues to make progress and train with the team."

"I'm very happy overall with the team effort today, especially with sitting out some of our top runners for today's race," added Walsh. "The team has made great strides during the season and I'm really looking forward to see how they can compete next week at the conference championships against some of the best teams in the country."

USC's Cocco, Erdelyi, Helgerson and sophomore Chanel Fischetti sat out this race in preparation for the Pac-10 Championships next weekend hosted by Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., while junior Taylor Carroll was still being hampered by a sore IT band and could not race.