Roberts Leads 'Cats To Dominant Season-Opening Performance

9/2/2017 3:25:00 PM | Women's Cross Country & Track

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. –Aubrey Roberts started her sophomore campaign in style by winning the season-opening Flyers/Flames Invite on Saturday with a time of 14:01.50, nine seconds faster than her closest competition, to lead Northwestern to victory.

Head coach A'Havahla Haynes' Wildcats took first and second-place in the race, and seven of the first 13 competitors to cross the finish line were wearing purple. All 11 Northwestern runners in the 102-woman field finished inside the Top-48.

"Overall, the race went well," Haynes said after the conclusion. "We were a little off the pace and out of the lead for the first 3K, but the women responded and closed hard over the last 1K. The great thing was Coffey, Pigneri, Tobin, Ostenso, and Albers ran almost the entire race as a pack, which is what we need moving forward."

Roberts was followed across the line by Sarah Nicholson, and the aforementioned quintet finished 8-10-11-12-13 to nail down a dominant performance by the Wildcats.

Northwestern earned head-to-head victories over Marquette, DePaul, Illinois-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Lewis.

The Wildcats will have several weeks off from competition before heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the Cowboy Jamboree on Sept. 30.

Flyers/Flames Challenge Results (4K)
Aubrey Roberts (1) – 14:01.50
Sarah Nicholson (2) – 14:09.84
Sara Coffey (8) – 14:48.23
Hannah Tobin (10) – 14:48.88
Brooke Pigneri (11) – 14:48.97
Andrea Ostenso (12) – 14:50.02
Haley Albers (13) – 14:50.53
Amanda Davis (22) – 15:11.22
Kelly O'Brien (38) – 15:41.54
Mary Orders (46) – 15:52.78
Ashley Ko (48) – 15:55.29