CARY, N.C.  –Appalachian State University women's cross country collected 24 team points to take the 5k crown at the 3 Stripe Invitational on Saturday morning at the Wake Med Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C. Landing in second place was the Pacers Track Club with 51 points and Campbell finished in third with 59 points.

“I am very excited to see the ladies get another win,” said head coach Michael Curcio. “We saw a few PRs for the course and a few for the season. I am glad to see Butler and Pusateri crack that 19 barrier. It really validates what all the ladies have been doing all season. It really helps having such a deep team. The ladies have confidence that if one has an off day, someone is there to help, and we hope they will take this and help motivate them in the track season.”

In a mixed field of unattached runners and collegiate competitors, Anna Vess (unattached) won the individual title running a time of 17:57.49. Coming in second was Ashleigh Handchen who was also unattached and in third was the fastest collegian of the morning Rebekah Greengrass of NC State (18:15.53).

The first Mountaineer to reach the tape was Kate Butler who ran 11 seconds faster than her previous PR to take 11th place (18:50.92). Striding right behind Butler was Molly Pusateri (18:55.35/PR) and Erin Jameson (19:00.30) who finished 12th and 13th respectively. Rounding out Appalachian's top five was Sarah Venable, who finished 17th and clocked a time of 19:09.3,7 and Leigh Harrow, who finished 18th with a time of 19:12.21.

Other runners for App State were Megan Scannell in 20th (19:20.71), Sarah Hoffert in 22nd (19:36.23), Natalie Richardson in 23rd (19:38.05/PR), Alison Peters in 27th (19:48.53/PR) and Ellen Spencer in 28th (19:50.90).

Up Next

App State will run at Panorama Farms for the second time this season at the 2016 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 11 in Earlysville, Va. The women's 6k starts at 11 a.m.