by Kevin Buczek
GREENSBORO, N.C.-Sophomore Ericka Skinner (Hopedale, Ohio) won her second race of the season leading Barton College to the North Carolina Collegiate Cross Country Championships team title at the Meadows Course on the Guilford College campus Saturday morning.
Skinner dominated the women's 6,000-meter endurance race winning with a blazing time of 23:28. Skinner – winner of the Adidas Seahawk Invitational on Sept. 9 – crushed her opposition winning by one minute and 12 seconds for her second victory.
Barton had a total of six Lady Bulldogs post top-15 results as Barton won the team title with 30 points. Roanoke College finished second with 38 points, Shaw University was third with 84 and Methodist University was fourth with 88.
The win was the first for the Barton women's cross country program under the leadership of second year head coach Karen Godlock.
"The women team was focused today, they ran with a lot of heart," said Coach Godlock. "We are coming along good. I am proud of all their efforts."
Junior Alexa Tovella (Bartlett, Ill.) had her most impressive race of the season finishing fifth out of 39 harriers. Tovella finished the 6k in 26:05, leading a cluster of five Lady Bulldogs to the finish line over the next two minutes.
Freshmen Cimone Barbour (Dale City, Va.) and Marisa Denton (Las Vegas, Nev.) both earned top-10 finishes of seventh and ninth, respectively, with strong times of 26:26 and 26:50. Classmates Lauren Andreola (Newport, N.C.) and Andrea Roca (Jacksonville, N.C.) followed closely in 13th and 14th with times of 27:44 and 27:48.
Other finishers for the Bulldogs were senior Ashley Freeman (Cary, N.C.) at 28:57 and freshman Schylar Cook (Dornsife, Pa.) at 36:26.
The North Carolina Collegiate Cross Country Championships marked the first competitive 6k for five Bulldog freshmen, which is the same distance the women will run at the Southeast Regional on Nov. 5.
Barton will look to use the momentum from Saturday's win at the 2011 Conference Carolinas Championships hosted by Queens University of Charlotte at McAlpine Creek Park on Friday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m.
