Courtesy: Princeton Athletic Communications Senior Alex Banfich was 13th at the Notre Dame Invite.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (9/29/11) - The Princeton women's cross country team finished eighth at the Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational. The Tigers competed in the Blue Race against five other nationally-ranked teams.

Senior Alex Banfich led the team with a 13-place finish covering the 5k course in 17:19. Junior Alexis Mikaelian ran in at 17:47 followed four seconds later by classmate Greta Feldman. Freshman Andrea Keklak ran 17:53 in her first big collegiate race, and junior Mel Newbery rounded out the scoring with a time of 18:14. Sophomores Molly Higgins and Clare Gallagher along with freshman Jackie Nicholas and Emily de la Bruyere also ran the course.

A total of 28 teams consisting of 225 harriers competed with Florida State taking top honors with a team score of 54. In second place with 116 points was Arkansas followed by New Mexico in third at 164.

Princeton Finishers
13. Alex Banfich 17:19
43. Alexis Mikaelian 17:47
53. Greta Feldman 17:51
63. Andrea Keklak 17:53
98. Mel Newbery 18:14
111. Molly Higgins 18:19
138. Jackie Nicholas 18:33
142. Clare Gallagher 18:26
216. Emily de la Bruyere 19:48

Meanwhile, at the Paul Short Run, Princeton had seven runners compete in the open women's 6k. Leading the Tigers was freshman Rachel Skokowski who posted a time of 22:41 to finished 19th out of 341 competitors. Freshman Gina Talt was three seconds back at 22:44 and junior Abby Levene ran 23:30. Sophomore Katie Skinner and junior Abby Hewitt finished four seconds apart at 23:42 and 23:46. Freshman Sophie Harkins and senior Bernie Da Costa also competed for Princeton.

Next up for the Tigers is the Wisconsin Invitational on Friday, Oct. 14 and the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15.