GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Allegheny women's cross country finish ninth overall at the 2011 Knight Invitational hosted by Calvin College in one of the nation's biggest meets of the week. Although the Gators went in short-handed, the Blue and Gold turned in a solid performance paced by Kristina Martin's superb individual effort.

Martin manufactured one of the best races of her career on Saturday. Splitting 17:54.20 amid near perfect racing conditions, the sophomore from Holley, N.Y. finished fourth overall in a field that included nearly 200 runners.

“I couldn't possibly be more proud of Kristina,” exclaimed head coach Brent Wilkerson. “She showed a tremendous amount of guts in her performance, and ran a stellar race.”

Freshman Andy Sharfman authored one of the best rookie performances in the meet, and closed 28th overall after breaking the tape in 18:48.90. Senior Amber Wetzel finished third on Allegheny's contingent (20:09) while rookies Marisa Brown (21:53) and Alex Opsitnick (23:38) capped the scoring.

“I'm very happy with our women's team,” added Wilkerson. “We've been dealing with several injuries and we're still working on our race strategy, but we learned a few things today, and I'm certain that we can build on this effort.

NOTE: There was a problem with the timing system and complete results are not available. Updates to times and final team scores may be forthcoming.