Point Park women's cross country places 19th at NAIA Great Lakes Challenge Top 25 race

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Point Park University women's cross country competed in the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 21 placing 19th out of 22 teams. The Pioneers were in the Maroon Race, the fastest women's race on the day including 13 NAIA Top 25 ranked teams. 

Allison Plassio and Jana Schmid powered the Pioneers with a pair of personal-records at the top of the team listing for Point Park. Plassio, a senior, knocked another 10 seconds off her 5,000-meter career best and came in with a time of 19:06. That was with a pace of 6:09 per mile to place 22nd overall out of 190 total runners. 

Schmid ran a time of 19:29 to place 37th overall and earn her way into the upper echelon of the race. Plassio and Schmid led Point Park to an average team time of 20:41 on the day. 

Sophia Lee-Hauser was the third Point Park runner to cross the finish line. She did so in 21:12 followed by Kiyara Sawyers running 21:18. Point Park's fifth, sixth and seventh runners were all within 10 placements of each other, a group that included Olivia Hare (22:22),  Karen Rios (22:51) and Corinne Lee-Hauser (23:36). 

The River States Conference teams competing in the Maroon Race all finished close to each other. IU East led the the conference placing 18th followed by Point Park in 19th, IU Kokomo in 20th and then Shawnee State (Ohio) in 22nd. The RSC also had three teams in the White Race later in the day with Oakland City (Ind.), Ohio Christian and IUPUC.

The RSC Championship is next for the Pioneers on Nov. 4 at Midway (Ky.). The team winner and qualifying individuals will move on to the NAIA National Championship. Point Park is the defending women's champion and has won five of the last eight conference championships.