SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Freshman Nelly Puente paced the Washburn women's cross country team with a top-20 finish as the Ichabods placed eighth in a strong 20-team field Friday at the Augustana Invitational. Washburn scored 208 points in the 6,000-meter race, finishing ahead of South Dakota State and Concordia (Neb.) among others.

Washburn's top five runners all finished among the top 67 competitors in the field, led by Puente, who crossed the finish line in 20th place with a time of 21:27.2. The freshman recorded the team's top finish in the race and helped the Ichabods secure an eighth-place team result. Her time was just three seconds off the Ichabod record time on an 6K course and was also the fastest by an Ichabod women's runner on the Yankton Trail Course by nearly 90 seconds topping Kaylee Snell's mark from Nov. 5, 2016.

Senior Jolie Evans turned in the second-fastest time for Washburn, placing 32nd overall in 21:46.3. Junior Riley Britton followed closely behind, finishing 39th in 22:03.4. Both Evans and Britton recorded personal-best performances.

Freshman Monika Panoutsou added a 64th-place finish in 22:26.6 while senior Grace Collins rounded out the Ichabod scoring five with a 67th-place finish in 22:32.0. Junior Riley Ammons also posted a personal-best time of 22:36.1, placing 71st overall, while freshman Alexis Chadek finished 89th in 23:02.2.  Kenzie Ross was 135^th in a time of 23:50.1 while Misti Schlabach was 166^th in a time of 24:35.5 and Cheynne Hittle was 190^th (25:08.90).

Rogers State captured the team title with 81 points, followed by Black Hills State (86) and Dordt (103). Washburn's 208 points placed the Ichabods eighth among the 20 scoring teams in the meet.

The Ichabods will return to the course on Sunday, Oct. 11 at the NCAA Pre-National meet at Rim Rock Farms in Lawrence – the site of the NCAA D2 National Championship.