Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Navy
Women’s Cross Country Falls to Navy; Jones Places First at Star Meet
October 15, 2022 | Women's Cross Country
| MEET 4 | |
|---|---|
| SCORE | Army West Point 33, Navy 26 |
| DISTANCE | 6K |
| LOCATION | USNA Cross Country Course - Annapolis, MD. |
ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Army West Point women's cross country was defeated by Navy in the annual star meet, 33-26. Georgia Jones led the way for the Black Knights, placing first individually to continue her strong running season this fall.
Jones was step for step with Navy's Emily Boutin down the stretch, with Jones pulling ahead to post a time of 20:55.0 for a victory by less than one full second. Much like the Cadets most recent meet at the Paul Short Invite, Charlotte Richman was the next Black Knight to trail Jones. Richman tabbed a third-place finish (21:17.5), 22 seconds off the two leaders and 20 seconds ahead of the next group to finish.
Joanna Halfhill had another good showing landing in sixth place (22:06.6), after she previously tabbed first place at Army's only other head-to-head meet against Maine this season. The group behind Halfhill made the difference in the scoring, with Navy rounding out its scoring group with four runners placing 7th-10th.
Plebe Claire Lewis and yearling Abigail McIlvain came in next for the Black Knights, claiming 11th and 12th place respectively, with just two-tenths of a second between them. Laurynn Sisneros (15th, 22:48.4) and Melissa Jachim (16th, 22:56.4) rounded out the scoring group for Army, with Navy's seven runners in the top-10 ultimately giving them the victory in the star series matchup.
Army Top 7
1. Georgia Jones – 20:55.0
3. Charlotte Richman – 21:17.5
6. Joanna Halfhill – 22:06.6
11. Claire Lewis – 22:29.7
12. Abigail McIlvain – 22:29.9
15. Laurynn Sisneros – 22:48.4
16. Melissa Jachim – 22:56.4
A full list of results for this meet can be found HERE.
Coach's Corner
"We did not run a complete race today and our dominance up front was not good enough to overcome Navy's depth. The scoring was close early and we had a chance to move up into the lead midway through the race but couldn't get our 4 and 5 runners up into the scoring spots to impact the outcome. Joanna Halfhill ran strong as our number 3 today and gave us a good boost up front in the race. She put herself in the top 5 early on and held that spot for the majority of the race, only giving it up in the last mile. She has made a terrific jump forward this year and her hard work this summer has paid off. She was not even on the Army-Navy roster a year ago, so this was her first star meet. She put it all out there and we couldn't ask for any more effort from her.
Charlotte Richman did a nice job of pushing at the front of the race with Georgia and the top Navy runner. The challenging terrain at the end of the race caught up with her and she ended up in 3rd place but that performance, in only her 2nd collegiate race, is a remarkable accomplishment. She is a great example of the type of commitment that can shape an entire program. She came to West Point to play basketball and has been fully participating with the women's basketball team and seeing us when her schedule permits. What she is doing and the level she is doing it at is incredible given the rigors of being a plebe at the Academy and pursuing two division 1 sports at the same time. We are lucky to have her out there and she obviously makes a big difference in the outcome.
Georgia Jones led our team again today as she has in every collegiate cross-country race that she has run. She won this race a year ago and took command today after the mile mark. She is a relentless competitor and her commitment to winning drove her all the way today. She was never able to extend a lead to more than 10m on the top Navy runner and with 100m to go they were stride for stride hurtling toward the finish line. As they neared the line, Georgia was able to open up a narrow gap and she captured the win by less than a second. It was a tough loss today. There is no other way to frame it. I know that we have the competitive depth to be much better, and our team understands what they need to do. They will get another chance to put a complete race together in 2 weeks at the conference meet." - Director of Track & Field Mike Smith
Up Next
Army will gear up for the Patriot League Championships on Saturday, October 29th hosted by Bucknell University.
For complete coverage of Army West Point cross country and track and field, follow the Black Knights on Twitter (ArmyWP_TrackXC) and Instagram (goarmytrack) and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.
Players Mentioned
