TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Flagler College women's cross country team paced themselves for a 16th place finish at the Florida State University Invitational, held at Apalachee Regional Park this morning.

The Saints were one of 36 teams to take part in the race. Among the 36 competitors were No. 29 Florida State University, No. 22 (NCAA Division II) University of Tampa, No.1 (NAIA) Taylor University, No. 10 (NAIA) Savannah College of Art and Design, and Louisiana State University. The race amassed 351 total finishers.

Flagler's top finishers occupied Nos. 98-103. Chloe Smith and Abby Misch had a photo finish as the leaders of the Saints pack. Smith and Misch finished with the exact same time, 23.19.3. History repeated itself as true freshmen Marie Meyer-Piton and Sophie Poling took 100 and 101 with the exact same time, 23:19.4. "We got a little too comfortable in the early portion of the race and found ourselves a bit further back than we had hoped to be," head coach Brian Beil said. "The encouraging takeaway for the ladies is that some of our top runners felt very comfortable as we forced the team to pack-run." Clemence Treguer and Zoie Marchant rounded out the Saints pack with the 102 and 103 spot. Treguer finished in 23:19.7 while Marchant finished in 23:19.9.

The last Saint to earn points toward the team was freshman Sophie May who placed 122nd in 23:38.5. Coach Beil noted, "with such a young group I think we will continue to improve each week if we are smart. We definitely have our work cut out for us if we want to finish top three in the region this year, but it is still the goal."

The Saints next race will be the Lewis Crossover, hosted by Lewis University on Oct. 11.