The X-Women cross country team opened the 2011 season with a first place showing at the Saint Mary’s Invitational meet held at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax this afternoon.

Third year runner Natalie Kannenberg placed first overall and helped lead the X-Women to victory as seven X-Women nabbed a place in the top ten. Kannenberg ran the 5k race in a time of 19:05, two seconds better than second place finisher Cara Groves (19:07) from Dalhousie. Tigers runner Ellen Chappel (19:19) rounded out the top three in a race that featured 52 AUS runners.

Melissa Hardy was the next X-Woman to cross the finish line, running right behind Chappel at 19:20 in fourth place. The X-Women then took sixth through tenth spots. Liz O’Connell (19:31) splaced 6th, followed by teammates Allison Trenholm (19:33) in 7th, Becki Reeves (19:34) in 8th, Kelly MacDonald (19:37) in 9th and Jessica White (19:40) in 10th.

An additional nine StFX runners competed in the inaugural race of the season with their results as follows.

Maggie Soehl (12th), 20:01
Natasha Herron (16th), 20:09
Brittany Morris (17th), 20:13
Heather Snow (18th), 20:30
Beth MacNeil (20th), 21:07
Laura Sandre (21st), 21:23
Alyson Woods (23rd), 21:28
Annie Livingstone (25th), 21:43
Alexa Zrains (27th), 22:23

The X-Women claimed the top team spot with 26 points, followed by Dalhousie in second place with 33 points and Acadia in third with 99. St. Thomas (115), Saint Mary’s (131) and Moncton (153) rounded out the team standings.

Next on the schedule for the X-Women is the Acadia Invitational meet scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24th in Wolfville, NS.