Whitrock Claims Individual Title at LSU Invitational
Sept. 25, 2010 Men's Results | Women's Results | Season Statistics BATON ROUGE, La. - On a course that she was all too familiar with, junior Julia Whitrock claimed the individual title at the LSU Invitational at Highland Road Park on Saturday, Sept. 25. The women's team posted a third place showing, with every TU runner posting a career best, and the men's team grabbed a seventh place finish and were led by Mike Mainguy. The highlight of the meet came from Whitrock, the Baton Rouge native, who claimed her first career collegiate individual title on her hometown course. Whitrock, who competed on the Highland Park Road course in high school, covered the 6K distance in a personal best time of 20:53.40. The winning time was 75-seconds faster than her previous best, which came at the NCAA South Central Regional to end the 2009 slate. "(Julia and Rebecca) worked together in the first half of the race today to try and set a strong pace early," said Tulane head coach Eric Peterson. "Rebecca made a move about half way through, which shows how competitive she is, but it may have been a little early and she faded a bit late. Julia is a tough runner and she had a great race. The two of them can really do some great things this season and it is great for our team to see them push each other." Rebecca Coady was the next Tulane finisher, placing seventh overall in 21:29, and Katherine Crabtree crossed the finish line in 17th place. Crabtree's time of 22:13.19 was over 90-seconds faster than her previous career best time on a 6K course. Johanna Gretschel and Emmi Aguillard were the final two scoring runners to cross the finish line for Tulane placing 26th and 27th respectively. "We are proud of the fact that we are continuing to place high at our early meets," said Peterson. "I do believe, however, that we can do a better job of competing against some of the team in our conference and our region. Even though we are getting better individually, we are not to the level of improvement that we want to get to as a squad. We definitely want to continue improving." Overall seven veteran runners competed for the Olive and Blue at the LSU Invitational and all of them walked away from the course with career best times in hand. Peggy Keplinger had the biggest drop in her time, with nearly a four-minute improvement from 27:20.61 at the LSU Invitational in 2007 to a time of 23:26.48. Aguillard dropped her time over 90-seconds, Coady by 30-seconds and Gretschel by 40-seconds. Caitlin Hornbeck crossed the finish line nearly two-and-a-half minutes better than her previous PR. Callie Turlington was the top newcomer in her first collegiate meet, placing 37th overall in a time of 23:12.27, while five other Green Wave student-athletes completed the course in under 27:00. The solid performance helped the team to a third place finish with 73 points, behind NcNeese State with 38 points and Houston with 57 points. LSU (75) was fourth and Houston Baptist (142) rounded out the top five women's teams. Mike Mainguy was the third different men's runner to lead the team in the opening three meets. The junior finished 27th in a time of 28:53.88 and was followed by Max Miller's 29:04.63 to place 29th. Ryan Rigali posted a 41st place showing in 30:11.21, with Phil Scruggs (31:50.55) and Jordon Holtzman(31:59.73) rounding out the scoring runners for the Green Wave. The men's squad placed seventh overall, just five points behind sixth place Northwestern State, with 169 total points. Houston won the meet with 47 points, followed by LSU (53), Houston Baptist (83), Southeastern Louisiana (92) and Louisiana-Monroe (146). The Green Wave will have two weeks of training before their next competition at the Watson Ford Invitational. Tulane will head to Clinton, Miss. for the October 8th invitational.
Junior Mike Mainguy was the Top Finisher for the Men's Squad at LSU on Saturday
Men's Individual Results (8K)
27. Mike Mainguy 28:53.88
29. Max Miller 29:04.63
41. Ryan Rigali 30:11.21
53. Phil Scruggs 31:50.55
54. Jordon Holtzman 31:59.73
63. Jordan Vance 33:27.83
Women's Individual Results (6K)
1. Julia Whitrock 20:53.40*
8. Rebecca Coady 21:29.09*
17. Katherine Crabtree 22:13.19*
26. Johanna Gretschel 22:42.04*
27. Emmi Aguillard 22:44.92*
37. Callie Turlington 23:12.27*
43. Peggy Keplinger 23:26.48*
47. Caitlin Hornbeck 23:43.14*
48. Aimee Arceneaux 23:48.78*
55. Colleen Loughlin 24:07.58*
62. Tave Abell 24:36.02*
81. Cassie Campbell 25:59.76*
85. Amanda Savage 26:12.54*
