Sydney Watts continued her strong early start to her final season as a member of the Chestnut Hill College Women's Cross Country team on Friday, taking 16 seconds off her personal best, 5000-meter race time at the University of Delaware Invitational at White Clay Creek State Park in Newark, Delaware.
Watts led the team to a sixth place finish among the eight schools competing with 166 points. Two NCAA Division I schools topped the field with host Delaware sweeping the top five positions for 15 points and Towson University placing second with 49 points.
The senior Watts completed the course in 20:27.1 to place 26th overall. Watts was also the first non-Division I finisher at the race. Her time was nearly 16 seconds faster than her previous best 5K effort set two weeks ago at Belmont Plateau.
Gabby Hassler was the next Griffin finisher, crossing the line in 24:32.4. Anastasia Watson, a two-time all-conference discus thrower for Chestnut Hill, made her cross country debut, finishing in 29:00.5
Rounding out the Griffin's five finishers were Deanna Otero and Erin McCarthy. Otero finished in 30:23.5 while McCarthy, also a thrower on the women's track team, finished in 34:51.5
The Griffins return to action on Saturday, September 28, 224 for the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational 6K race in Newville, Pennsylvania. Race start time is scheduled for 11:15 a.m.
