New Orleans - The Tulane University cross country team opened its season Friday evening at City Park with a second-place finish at the Green Wave Invitational, the only home event of the season. Tulane\'s Aubrey Phillips finished second among Division I scorers, with a time of 19:30.
Amanda Wallace of Southeastern Louisiana was the top finisher, in 19:00, followed by Keriann Langley at 19:12. Langley, a Tulane junior, ran the meet unattached and did not count in the meet scoring.
\"I\'m excited,\" Tulane head coach Heather Van Norman said. \"I\'m happy for two reasons: number one, to be back running on our home ground and to be representing Tulane in the city of New Orleans. This is a good course and it\'s good to be back on it. It was under eight feet of water last year.\"
\"The second thing I\'m excited about is to see Keriann Langley run well. She\'s coming off a severe injury, and for her to be able to finally run a race like she did today was great. As for Aubrey Phillips, I know her time will come. She works hard and I know she\'s going to get to where she needs to be.\"
Behind Phillips were Wave runners Rachel Bryan (19:58; fourth place), Alysa Kociuruba (22:32; 14th), Arianne Larimer (24:26; 20th) and Lauren Swenson (25:58; 21st place) to round out the scoring.
Southeastern Louisiana scored 33 points to win the event. Tulane totaled 48 points, tied with Southern Miss. Ronna Sandoval (20:42; fifth) was the top finisher for USM.
\"We have young runners on our team, a lot of first time runners,\" Van Norman added. \"And with that, this is a good start for them to see where they are, and where they need to be. You have to start somewhere and this was a good start for us.\"
Tulane will face Southern Miss again next Friday, at the Southern Miss Invitational at Tatum Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., on September 9.