Saturday, September 18, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Sophomore Joane Pierre broke a 17-year school record to win the individual portion at the UF Mountain Dew Invitational and help lead the JU women’s cross country team to a second place finish on Saturday morning in Gainesville, Fla.

Pierre averaged a 5:39.1 mark per mile to finish with a time of 17:33.50 and leg out Florida’s Genevieve LaCaze (17:36.61) for the top spot in the meet. Pierre’s mark broke the previous record held by Allison Wilfong who ran a 17:49 on Oct. 16, 1993 in Tampa, Fla.

The Dolphins posted a program-best second place finish at the meet behind the Gators, while finishing ahead of in-state rivals USF (3rd), UNF (4th), Miami (6th) and FGCU (7th).

“Today was a nice way to open the season with our full squad,” said JU head coach Ron Grigg. “Obviously Joane’s win is a highlight, but I was very pleased with whole-team effort. They ran intelligently and their early season fitness is better than I have ever seen. And while all of that is good news, we also know that there are three other teams in our conference who are better than they have ever been as well. We have plenty of work left to do, but this was a positive first step for sure.”