SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Cortland junior Melissa Innocent (Elmont/Valley Stream North) finished in 208th place at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship, hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course.
 
Innocent completed the 6,000-meter course in 23 minutes, 35.6 seconds. Audrey Maclean of Middlebury was the national champion in 20:16.8, about 49 seconds ahead of the runner-up. A total of 290 runners competed.
 
Innocent, competing at nationals for the second straight year, was 148th after 1,000 meters and moved up to 91st and 77th at the 2K and 3K marks, respectively. She dropped to 85th after 4,000 meters before falling to 128th at the 5K marker and 208th at the finish. Innocent improved on both her place and time from last year's nationals, where she finished 268th in 23:49.6.
 
Innocent earned her trip to nationals as an individual qualifier from the Nov. 15 Niagara Regional, in which she placed fourth.

Coach's Corner - Comments from Cortland Head Coach Steve Patrick:

Well this obviously wasn't exactly the day we were hoping for but that's why you run the race!

Melissa took a chance and had herself in the position we wanted halfway through. She was out smart and moved up well. It's hard as a coach to ask for more than that from her.

What most folks are not aware of is that Melissa missed a chunk of training this summer with an injury. In August she was worried about even being back here at all. To fast forward two and a half months and for her to feel a measure of disappointment about finishing better than she did last year is pretty telling about the growth she has had and the type of competitor she has become.

Weirdly, we open the indoor track and field season in just 13 days, so we will shift our focus as a program to that.