PISCATAWAY, N.J. (September 11, 2011) – The Rutgers women’s cross country team placed fourth out of 17 teams with 147 points at the Fordham Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Van Cortlandt Park.

“I think it was a good showing for our first competition of the year,” said head coach James Robinson. “We ran against some quality cross country programs from the Ivy League. The ladies competed well and it’s important for us to continue to improve as the season progresses.”

Princeton won the meet with 34 points, followed by Yale in second with 43 and Penn in third with 96 points.

Leading the Scarlet Knights was sophomore Brianna Deming (Webster, N.Y.) who placed 19th out of 217 competitors. Deming ran a time of 18:49.35 to pace RU. Also adding to the day for Rutgers was Anjelica Brinkofski (Somerset, N.J.), who finished 21st in 18:58.28, followed by Victoria Pontecorvo (Staten Island, N.Y.) in 39th with a time of 19:28.20. Allison Payenski (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) took 41st in 19:29.98, while Ashley Deckert (Newfield, N.J.) placed 47th in 19:38.64.

The Scarlet Knights will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Monmouth Invitational in Holmdel, N.Y.

Rutgers Individual Times

19th           Brianna Deming                      18:49.35

21st            Anjelica Brinkofski                 18:58.28

39th           Victoria Pontecorvo              19:28.20

41st            Allison Payenski                      19:29.98

47th           Ashley Deckert                       19:38.64

49th           Rashmi Singh                           19:40.58

56th           Felicia O'Donnell                     19:53.17

111th         Darina Dinov                            21:01.79

120th         Kelly Flannigan                        21:09.73