LOUISVILLE, KY. – Freshman Madison Clay set a new program record for fastest women's 5k, and the Catawba women's cross country team finished 7th out of 47 teams at the Louisville Classic on Saturday.
Clay, a freshman from Morganton, set Catawba's fastest 6k record in her last outing back on September 17th, and on Saturday, she put herself atop both the 5k and and 6k list. Clay finished sixth out of a 419-runner field when she finished in a time of 17:50.6. This smashed the previous record of 18:21 set last season by 31 seconds. She also ran at a 5:44 mile pace in the event.
Huntington's Ally Wiley took the top time in the 5K Blue Race with a final time of 17:26.1.
Natalie Almond finished inside the top 10% of the field when she finished tied for 40th out of 419. Almond, also a freshman, ran a 10:34.7 to put herself top-five on the program's 5k list. The Lexington native maintained a sub-six-minute pace and crossed the finish line in a group of five runners who all finished just eight milliseconds apart.
As a team, Catawba took seventh out of 47 placing teams on the day with 354 points. Taylor University won the "Blue Race" catergory as a team with 67 points.
The women's cross country squad will turn run again this Friday at Royals Challenge hosted by Queens.
