Janeczek Finishes Third to Lead Diplomats at 2004 Little Three Women's Cross Country Championship

by Sports Information
9/15/04

LANCASTER, PA -- Meredith Janeczek (So., Hershey, PA/Hershey) finished third in 18:58.7 over the 5,000 meter course to lead the Franklin & Marshall College women's cross country team to a third place finish at the 2004 Little Three Championship at Baker Campus versus Gettysburg College and Dickinson College.

In a preview of a possible showdown at the Centennial Conference and NCAA Mid-East Regional Championship meets, Janeczek finished behind Dickinson's Emily Hulme (18:39.61) and Andrea Pope (18:57.2) and ahead of the Red Devils' Abigail Fergusson (19:03.58) and Gettysburg's Lane Gottshall (19:17.43) to lead the Diplomats.

Karen Ziga (So., Haverford, PA/Haverford), Yanira Figueroa (Sr., Mount Vernon, NY/Tuckahoe), Colette Buchanan (Fr., Hershey, PA/Hershey) and Meghan Feehan (Jr., West Chester, PA/Henderson) placed 11th (19:47.19), 14th (19:52.27), 19th (20:26.28) and 23rd (20:36.99), respectively, to round out F&M's top five finishers.

Overall, Dickinson College won the invitational defeating Gettysburg (17-46) and Franklin & Marshall (18-45), while the Bullets edged out the Diplomats (26-29) in the closest meet since F&M finished second at the 1999 Little Three Championship meet courtesy a 25-30 defeat of Gettysburg.

This year, the Diplomats narrowly missed defeating Gettysburg as F&M took places 1, 3, 6, 9, 10 in the dual meet versus the Bullets.

Historically, F&M's finish marks the closest Franklin & Marshall has been in the Little Three meet since the 1999 team following solid third place finishes in 2000 (Dickinson 15-50, Gettysburg 15-50), 2001 (Dickinson 15-50, Gettysburg 15-50), 2002 (Dickinson 15-50, Gettysburg 15-47) and 2003 (Dickinson 15-49, Gettysburg 16-47).

Franklin & Marshall will return to action on September 25 at the Allegheny College Invitational.

Franklin & Marshall Finishers
Meredith Janeczek 18:58.7
Karen Ziga 19:47.19
Yanira Figueroa 19:52.27
Colette Buchanan 20:26.28
Megan Feehan 20:36.99
Shannon Weir 21:00.5
Jayme Ewanichak 21:08.5
Margaret Laufman 21:33.97
Amy Toporowski 21:44.06
Rebecca Altman-Dempsey 21:58.54
Virginia Earl 22:13.21
Kerri Ann Walker 22:42.42
Julie Schwartz 23:07.66
Elizabeth Kendig 23:27.81
Khari Taustin 23:49.84
Sarah Whitman 24:13.04
Alexandra Racines 34:36.06

Team Scores
Dickinson 18, F&M 45
Dickinson 17, Gettysburg 46
Gettysburg 26, F&M 29