Henry Mercer Invitational Results

HOLMDEL, N.J. -- LIU Brooklyn senior Esther Jean-Louis had her first top-ten finish of the season for the women's cross country team at the Henry Mercer Invitational, hosted by Monmouth in Holmdel, N.J., on Saturday. Jean Louis ran the 5K course in 20:36.4 to place ninth out of 35 runners in the field.

Classmate Eugenie Hue, competing for the first time this season was a few seconds behind in 11th place with a time of 20:44.9. Just behind Hue was fellow senior Sarah Northup in 20:51.7, rounding out the top 12. Sophomore Stephanie Reyes was the Blackbirds' fourth finisher in 22:29.6, which was good for 24th place, while her classmate Ashton Burton started the meet, but did not finish due to injury.

All four Blackbirds ran a season best time on the Holmdel Park five kilometer course, which saw the home team take first place in the event. Besides Monmouth, the other two opponents were NEC foes St. Francis Brooklyn and Wagner.

"We have now completed our third race of the season, I wanted to use this race to work on race strategy," said Head Coach Yvonne Harrison. "We are attempting to build a team that consistently runs at a similar pace with each running their hardest each meet. If we do this, we will achieve our results by NEC's. We are right where we want to be at this point in the season. We will have a much needed and deserved break this coming weekend."

LIU Brooklyn will be off next weekend and return to action on Sunday, Oct. 7, when they travel down to ESPN Wide World of Sports in Kissimmee, Florida for the Disney XC Classic.